Dragon's Dogma 2 - A Painful Critique

[@Zenny-YouTube]

CHECK OUT THE MERCH! cdcbf7-43.myshopify.com/ Thank you all for watching and showing your support

[@twohandedslap]

dude, did u ever consider using the resurrection stones? They literally refill you to full health and you can carry a bunch. Its a major game mechanic, why wouldn't you use that when a drake kills you?

[@Mike-vl8zb]

I apologize I have only 1 thumbs up to give you.

[@SpiritofHonor63]

Man. You pointed out many of the reasons it is lackluster and many of these are true from the regalia staff and sword to the garbage of Warfarer class but the true issue no one talks about is just how watered down the game is in comparison to the first. If you ever play the first you will realize that this game is missing like 20 different spells, spell targeting is worse now and armor has been significantly watered down. There is no longer under armor and more customization, the magic knight class is just straight up missing, you actually only have four abilities instead of six per character and worse the mage or sorcerer with only four abilities will use other spells that would normally be situational far less. Additionally spells in the first game were epic. You could actually charge the from basic, high and then finally GRAND for a truly spectacular spell - That is just gone here and its disgusting. Every class from Dragon's dogma 1 has been neutered EXCEPT the warrior who has got on just fine. I could go into hours long tangent about just how bad its gotten. But a final point to make is-items are straight up missing from game 1 that made it more of an rpg. Spring water, flasks, buying arrows instead of them taking up a whole damn slot that should've been reserved for some cool ability in pair of a special arrow and the like. Coinpurse of charity, gone. Special outfits, gone. Underarmor, gone. Like 20 spells, gone. Less abilities per class. Throwblast, gone. Orbs, gone. etc etc. Just as Dragon's Dogma 1 player you can see how BAD this game is. I dont mind the story because it makes sense but everything that made Dragon's dogma 1 good, has been severely undermined in favor of shortcuts.

[@zachthompson9976]

😡 Your not our supervisor!! We don't have to follow your orders!! 🙃🧡

[@altzvvmspujz3367]

You've clearly never played the first game. The dragonforged is a arisen. The Duke is a arisen. The dark arisen is a arisen. Selene is the main pawn of her "gran" who was a arisen. The merchant in bitter black isle is also a arisen. The sentinel is also another arisen. The dragon is also another arisen that became a dragon and was rifted to casardis. There was ALWAYS multiple arisen at the same time.

[@Ziegrif]

I find it extremely funny that they repeat the same stupidity of having your love interest be random dude number 404 you talked to a couple of times. Same thing happened in the first game. I find it to be comedy gold that the dragon seriously cannot discern who you love.

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Its so goofy man HOW DO YOU FUCK THIS UP TWICE

[@reivaxerubiza2204]

@@Zenny-KZbin It's always so damn funny seeing others get Fournival or Feste as their lover that's kidnapped in the first game 🤣

[@SuperMrSkully]

And just like the first game, it can be a random child. It's so weird.

[@shawmiserix404]

ahh great not like i went through hours spent making my arisen look like my main oc and their mane pawn the oc's lover

[@mysticmind4563]

Ironic that a creature that LITERALLY eats your heart out, can't figure out that the person you gave a ring to just might be the love interest.

[@carlosmelendez8317]

Ironic, the devs emphasize on saying fast travel exists because other devs make traversal boring but then they have you fight the same 4 enemy types for about 80% of the game, over and over...and over again. Smh

[@ThwipThwipBoom]

They could've at least gave us a mount to use if they insisted on making me waste my time walking everywhere instead of simply being able to fast travel like normal.

[@GeteMachine]

Bad enough with DD1 being pretty much "backtrack" simulator, with nothing in the world buy combat, bad pacing (where its easy to just run past everything) and one giant town of nothing to actually do in it, no world but 1 cult group that you defeat in pretty much copy+pasted missions, and goblins literally everywhere.

[@alephkasai9384]

​@@GeteMachineReally sucks because there's so much depth to the combat that just adding a handful more enemy types would have made it way more palatable

[@misplacedpoetry9687]

It is wild that this man is doing hour long critiques and also rendered animations

[@Zenny-YouTube]

It's gonna be double the amount of animation for the next one.... so wish me luck

[@misplacedpoetry9687]

@@Zenny-KZbin oh man that sounds like a lot of work but also I am SUPER looking forwards to it

[@steppin-razor]

And here I am skipping it all. Still, great work man lol

[@Zenny-YouTube]

@@steppin-razor man....

[@MizzMizery]

@@Zenny-KZbin Don't listen to him I love how innovative this is! I thought it an odd choice at first but it has its own little charming niche visually. Almost forgot to listen instead of studying the render tho lol

[@ZephyrusAsmodeus]

You forgot the really fun aspect of having to cart everywhere being the cart getting destroyed when it inevitably gets attacked every time you use it.

[@PlusOne2Crit]

Used the cart several times and, whilst it was attacked, I just defended it.

[@ianhoddinott9492]

1:01:00 It would be funny if some lore tidbit explains that he selects "your beloved" based not on how _you_ feel about the character, but the reverse. You couldn't tell but Sigurd was so down HORRENDOUS for you that the dragon couldn't ignore it.

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Hahaha he was down BAD and that dragon bloody knew!

[@Gaming_Legend2]

He is, Sigurd love your ass if you help him out on his quest line

[@thomassol9725]

It's always the lastest npc with highest affinity. In the first game I used arisens bond to immediately max affinity. Did Julian's quest to get the shield and it maxed his affinity and overrode the previous beloved.

[@rokas9991]

most funny was if ppl had that one merchant as their chosen beloved

[@centersolace]

1:00:58 this was a known problem with the original game, 1 of the most infamous in fact, so the fact it's still here means the devs either learned nothing or are doing it on purpose lmao.

[@Zenny-YouTube]

I guess they assumed it was part of the games identity!

[@lutherheggs451]

They are doing it on purpose. They've literally said they don't care, they see it as an "adventure" literally ALL of the port crystals are placed in a way that, the only people complaining about it are the ones that just want instant fast travel to any and all parts of the map. ALL of the port crystals are placed in central parts of the map, unlike the first game, they are all purposely placed so that your not walking miles upon miles to get to places. Ferry stones are easy as hell to come across and ferry stone shards literally can be turned into ferry stones.

[@nickb1762]

@@lutherheggs451yeah Harve village is a totally convenient spot that definitely isn’t in a completely irrelevant area. Two port crystals in the entire map..

[@nickb1762]

@@lutherheggs451it’s not a very good adventure when so many quests require time away, forcing you to come back in short notice in order to make progress. See the conundrum? That doesn’t mix well with no fast travel.

[@BioMatic2]

​@@lutherheggs451 what i find funny about this excuse is infinetly more sucessfull rpgs like elden ring or witcher 3 dont have to do this kind of thing to force the players hand

[@kingofdreamz2156]

My biggest gripe is there are no memorable characters like in the first game. Mercedes, fournival, hell even caxton had the best one liner.

[@Zenny-YouTube]

That's such a good point that I didn't even consider, I genuinely remember no one but brant

[@ElmaXC]

They’re masterworks all, you can’t go wrong

[@GeteMachine]

Might be an unpopular opinion but.. I found Claxton to be annoying. He's not really a meme. He, like a lot of the characters apart from the story cast, is only memorable because he repeats the same line over and over with not much beyond it. The guy at the Black Cat has more personality, but they don't beat Shopkeeper Bartley in BGDA1.

[@ElmaXC]

@ The reason he’s so memorable is because of the role he plays in the game. He’s a character every player will interact with, and a character that every player will return to on a regular basis. He IS a meme.

[@TheNapster153]

Honestly, the dialogue just isn't... there. The accents and the Ye Olde english which gave the first game so much character is gone. Shoot, they made it reversed. What made Grigori stand out was how 'simple' his speech was. He told things as a matter of fact without dropping bombs on you, the Arisen, knowing you were meant to uncover the truth on your own. Grigori may not be there all the time, but the point of him is to move the plot when it is needed. They should've gone through with us staging a coup on the kingdom, then have Grigori literally drop in to napalm the capital as a message and a callback to the world's established history. Mind you, the first game mentions directly that Grigori had destroyed the kingdom he makes his lair, and if anything, Gran Soren itself is unviable to live in now that the Urban District was destroyed.

[@TwoHandedChargedBonk]

A mandatory walk to a camp and back before retrying a boss? Looks like the devs hired that one FromSoft guy who came up with the boss runbacks for DS2.

[@Zenny-YouTube]

The legacy of DS2 strikes again

[@kryniu777]

You just need to quit to main menu and load game from there ;)

[@DeadKingKnight]

I might mistaken but I heard stuff about fromsoft and capcom working on monster hunter together? But it wasn’t official it was probably a roumor. Still I wouldn’t be surprised if that was true so they probably did bring a designer from ds2 lol

[@WhatshisfaceB18]

Ds2 slander shall NOT be tolerated

[@Kris-wo4pj]

Sounds lile someone didnt find a bonfire. Theres a bonfire and 30 second walk from all bosses in ds2. Everyone was pissed cuz it was too easy

[@Beep841]

popular opinion. All of the fast travel problems would be solved if they added the eternal ferry stone from the first game (for those interested on what it is, it was a ferry stone that could be used infinitely)

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Now that would if been sick. Maybe in the dlc

[@Beep841]

⁠@@Zenny-KZbin Funny you say that. The original game “dragons dogma” didn’t have the eternal ferry stone. The DLC “dark arisen” added the eternal ferry stone. Hopefully it’s as easy as it is in our storage like the first game instead of actually getting it by earning it because we suffer enough having to pay 10,000 gold for one ferry stone

[@cbbeng]

PC mods save the day once again for this title

[@Beep841]

@@cbbeng I guess us ps5 players will just suffer.

[@bigsweetz9384]

Don’t worry they’ll charge you for a dark arisen version and give you that in like 2 years.

[@Sabbatic]

American here. Thanks for the walking explanation, I was really confused for a second there. Is that like those "walkable cities" I keep hearing about?

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Before you get confused, allow me to explain what a walkable city is.... 😂

[@AJS-zn3cj]

Maybe he'll explain running for us dumb Colonials next time.

[@ThwipThwipBoom]

@@Zenny-KZbin Everything is so big and spread apart here in the States that at the very least you'll need a bike to get around. Walking anywhere will take you literal hours.

[@riptors9777]

The dragons presence in DD2 was so much weaker then in DD1. The people where terrified of the dragons comming in DD1.. the entire world seemed to have gone bananas over its arrival. Every action by any of the npcs was motivated by the arrival of the dragon. Because it was such an agent of sheer destruction that was known to lay entire kingdoms to waste in the past. Even the political machinations going on behind the scenes where triggered by the arrival of the dragon In DD2? Barely anyone takes note of the dragon... infact the story is more concerned with cloak and dagger stuff for the first half of the story about a fake arisen stealing your "rightfull" throne and a queen regent pupeteering said false arisen. Do both actually do anything to hinder you or are actual antagonists? Nope.. they are just there... both not giving a fuck about the arrival of the dragon.(They are more concerned with political power and ruling over their petty kingdom and not in the slightest concerns about godzilla knocking at their front door ready to destroy it all) The other half of the story is following the umbrella corporation trying to turn the dragon into a bioweapon... oh wait.. thats not umbrella... could have fooled me with how inept they are. Oh and the first half of the story ofcourse is completly forgotten later on.. including the false arisen.. just... gone They did my boy grigori dirty in this game... BTW the orb quest? You dont need to go back to the main town.. just go to the guy who has the orb... he literally has the bloody thing sitting there in plain view.... Edith: Also the entire "cycle" thing was much better shown and explained in DD1

[@billjacobs521]

Eh, I don't really agree. In the first game, the local lord is also more concerned with holding on to his power than dealing with the dragon, and the "machinations" you speak of were basically a plan to prevent the stopping of the dragon so that Gransys would be devestated by it, presumably because they thought the dragon wouldn't dare cross the border and attack anyone else. The only people talking about it were Salvation, but for the total opposite reason. The dragon is basically a non-entity for nearly the entire game. However, I always gave the first game a bit of a pass because it was a small game with a limited budget; this game really should have emphasized the dragon, maybe have it obliterate an entire major city.

[@riptors9777]

@@billjacobs521 Sorry but: you missed the mark by quite a margin... Including character motivations and worldbuilding. But lets focus on the dragon being a "non entity": In DD1 every character in the story is either deathly afraid or motivated into action by the dragons arrival in Gran Soren. Even random NPCs will comment on how the world has gone crazy because of the dragon. His presence is tangible throughout the entire game even without it being shoved into the players face every 10 minutes. In DD2 no one cares about the dragon except for the antagonists who see the dragon as a tool they can control to TAKE OVER THE WORLD! Infact people seem to see the dragon just as another everyday monster like a minotaur or cyclops... not even worthy of smalltalk. Heck the beastren for example are more concerned with discriminating against pawns instead of being scared shitless that the mother fucking dragon has reapared.... Thats how little respect DD2 has for the titular dragon...

[@GeteMachine]

@@billjacobs521 The difference though was that the Duke's goal was tied directly in relevance to the Dragon. He only used you to fight the monsters and get rid of Salvation to save face, but hoped you'd die at some point and didnt expect you to actually fight the dragon because he didn't. He only became an immortal Duke because he picked the selfish deal, and kept offering his arranged wives to keep his power under the dragon while a slave to it and terrified of losing it proving the Dragon right about humans, while the Duke thought you must have took the deal to usurp him yourself and didnt think anyone could kill the Dragon due to its prophetic scale and stature. He underestimated you and it was a simpler an clearer. DD2's story feels like it doesn't really have anything to do with the Dragon's bargain being the moral focal point and just contrived medieval social politics that were expanded unnecessarily without relevance to the core factor of how the Dragon' presence influences who is in power.

[@amannamedsquid313]

@@GeteMachine Agreed. And then there is Salvation itself: A Doomsday cult started by the ramblings a dying madman. A cult that worshipped the dragon, that wanted it to destroy the world and were trying to help it through acts of sabotage and terrorism and necromancy. The Dragon itself even acknowledged that they were deluded fools, tiny in the grand scheme of things.

[@riptors9777]

@@GeteMachine Actually the duke only sacrificed his beloved once, namely when he was given the choice to accept the dragons deal, Grigori killed his loved one (Elanor was her name i think?) and left. With the dragon gone Edmund claimed he had slayed the beast and was crowned Duke of Gran Soren. Grigori hadnt returned to the world till the start of DD1 where the player becomes the new arisen. Knowing the truth about the dragons deal Duke Edmund tries to get rid of the arisen by sending him out on dangerous quests with little to no support. And after that doesnt work he wants to send the arisen away on a long journey. All in order to keep the arisen away from the dragon because he fears that our arisen will also take the dragons deal.. wich would be a direct threat to his reign. But yeah the rest of what you wrote is on point. The Dragon in DD2 has basically no influence on the world or the people within it.. no one seems to care that there even is a dragon... i mean what did he do in dd2? Burn half a village? A pissed off cyclops or chimera could have done that.. heck i bet a goblin warband could have done asmuch damage. BTW. The dragons deal is just another test to see if the Arisen is a worthy candidate. A easy way out so to speak. If you take it youre not worthy of becomming the next seneschal

[@marducms]

Masterpiece or trash? Both.

[@lylezone2752]

that seems right

[@Good_Guy_Lex]

Sounds about right

[@meshman4236]

Nah just trash. Like how does a game have shit story, shit world, shit enemy design, arguably shit combat, shit optimisation AND STILL GRT CALLED MASTERPIECE🤯 I'm alright with the gameplay but I saw alot critique it's "spam the op ability" or "you can't use many of them since they lack a dodge or block option that's viable"

[@marducms]

​@@meshman4236 Did you played the game? If yes, we played a really different game. The story is very good, if you payed attention, the director tried something different and more subtil, it`s hard to capture. That are some parts of the story that I only understood in the third playthrough. And only after these I was able to understand the value of it. To say that the world, enemy design (enemy variety should had been better for sure) and combat are shit I mus completely disagree. They`re awesome, but certainly it`s not for all people, you`re probably one of them. All of these elements have something nearly impossible to describe, but they`re not even bad, let alone shit. Optimization was really bad for PC, and in my case was random. My poorer performance where in places completely empty, not in the cities. The director of the game tried to do a different game, it takes a little more work to get then other games. And to me what makes trash too is the fact that I needed more then a hundred hours to see the masterpiece in the game. This is not aceptable and because of it is trash too.

[@meshman4236]

@marducms the story is the only game I've ever seen that forgot its narrative straight away. The Queen plot is thrown away, the slave master and Queen who KNOW YOU, fail to recognise you when you talk to them. I don't even know who the batahl Queen is because she had 1 sentence. There a like 5 enemy types in the game and you mostly fight goblins, bandit or birds, the world is literally run around and loot a wooden or sometimes metal chest that will either have gold, material or VERY RARELY, a weapon. Hell while we're on the world aspect, it's rules don't make sense, the secret ending had the world stripped of water for a month but somehow everyone survived, somehow you can just walk into a Palace. The world promised using the environment but that barrel thrown at rock debris when fighting the troll is the only time it happens. The only unique area in the game was the misty area with the sphinx and that was it. You are either running area to area, skipping the sprint then walk whilst sprint recharges, with a carriage or are running into a small empty cave/mine with a chest of gold That is such an awful design Now for combat. The only classes I used was warrior and thief. They were the only good classes for every fight by far. Every other class like spear have no block/dodge (mystic spear does bad damage and doesn't stun bigger enemies). Fighter has a block but you'll find yourself block locked unlike with thief due to dodges or warrior due to hyper armour. The only class I didn't play was mystic archer and it was because the buggy ass game didn't let me do the quest to get it. The combat is spam thief ability or warrior light attack combo until the enemy is dead. That is awful game balance and tedious game design. Pawns are important to the combat. However 2 of the 3 you can't even customise or grow attached to since they don't level with you, and the one you have doesn't get noticeably better with gaining skills or weapons/armour. Pawns are so stupid that their team skills never work but that's a different conversation. The only people I can see this appealing to is players that aren't looking for anything beyond the bare minimum. This game falls way too short in every aspect that qualifies a game for good, nevermind masterpiece. I strongly recommend watching feeble Kings review on it. It will show you alot of the points I haven't mentioned.

[@salt7625]

The biggest mistake game companies make and even every company makes is focusing too much on making the consumer do what they want....instead of coming up with a good product...and assuming the consumers are ALL stupid... You don't need to MAKE a player explore your world.... you don't need to dumb your story down for the player to understand, people that care will explore, people that care will love your story...you just have to give them something to care about...

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Studios thing gamers are stupid, inadvertently making them look stupid

[@heronumber009]

Unpopular opinion: maybe those companies has a point, at least partly. Look at how many people still pay for EA games and all of their exploitative schemes, like the "surprise mechanics"! Look at how many people still support and get excited for them games that coming from shitty companies, after they have fucked the gaming communities over and over! Look at how much money those Gatcha/mobile games! And much more. People defending shitty companies/shitty practices all the time. So at least a (large) part of the gaming community is actually stupid! And often a lot of people in the community are afraid to call that part out for their stupidity for various reason: such as afraid that they got also called out because they might participate in some of that stupidity here and there, or afraid of the backlash (especially for the KZbinrs/influencers/streamers) because they might get cancelled or losing view,...

[@doclouis4236]

I will never understand why Japanese game devs are bad at telling a good story in their Western fantasy RPGs when games like the Witcher 3 do a better job than most.

[@missNekolover91]

@@doclouis4236 I mean asians think that westerners are dumb, so we don't need good stories

[@richardharrison4762]

I am interested to get opinions on which games invite exploring their worlds while not enforcing it. Giving a bonus for doing so even if that is just satisfaction. I don’t have a Switch but I understand that in Breath of the Wild you can just run straight through the world if you choose but can unlock extras for discovering.

[@CarlolucaS]

Solution to fast travel that has been recommended even in the first game. Mounts or Tranformations. The fact that the designers failed to implement any good solutions for travling through the map is so fucking stupid. It's almost like they saw a wall, recognized the wall, heard other people talk about the wall and how they should slow down or drive around it and accelerated even harder into the wall.

[@Flopdoodle]

That's really not what happened... Like, at all. Understand that in their mind, there was no problem to fix; There was no "Wall", no hurdle, no obstacle to get over. Their intention was to have the player WALK. Now you see a wall here, but the devs saw a straight open road. You understandably don't like it, but this is 100% their intention. Critique it, be vocal, maybe they will listen for whatever DLC they have planned... Or use mods, on PC they have a tendency to alter perceived developer mistakes.

[@CarlolucaS]

@@Flopdoodle A mount would still have players walk but not a snails pace anymore. Just because you intend on wasting players time doesn't make it a good idea. You are just still wasting the players time. Sorry. I should have said they saw a solid block of Titatnium and sped up 10 times into it while screaming "We intend to drive against it. Trust us. This is definitly not a boneheaded move." They also intend for you to have only one save and only be able to save in certain cases. Does it make the save system magically better? No. Intention never matters when it comes to the actual outcomes of the actual thing. Just because devs are delusional doesn't mean I need to feed their delusion.

[@CarlolucaS]

@briandprice1981 Someone could shit on your plate and you would say "Well the chef wanted to make the meal this way. Shut the fuck up and eat shit." You guys really defend every stupid idea there is out there. I won't even engage with the other comment cause the answer should be pretty clear what I would think about another braindead system that wastes players time. I even forgot to mention that in DD1 you had also the whole stamina thing so you couldn't even run all the time. Just because some brainrotten idiot thinks it is a really great idea to it this specific way it doesn't make it good or special. It just makes it idiotic and brainrotten.

[@goldenhole321]

@@CarlolucaS Yep.

[@flamebringer2546]

@@Flopdoodle why don’t modders just get together, and make the games, since apparently developers get to be tone deaf and wear it like a badge of honor. I would say traversal in dd2 is cheap padding, and without it you never enjoy the 1 part of the game everyone unanimously enjoys, combat… Capcom thought they’d have another mh success story, but their next go around is just more capcom laziness w a new coat of paint

[@TastyCity34]

I'm just happy that I'm not the only one who got baited into doing the regalia sword quest before the coronation

[@Zenny-YouTube]

You're the only person I've seen comment that did the same! I am no longer alone!

[@chrisv4472]

"with the obvious answer being that it absolutely--" oh, Zenny!

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Gotta tease your Audience 😋

[@admiralalyssa]

It honestly baffles me how fast you get your work done after a game drops, especially a big RPG like Dragon's Dogma. Your passion and hunger continue to be evident as you carve out your place here. I have to say this, you are now my favorite creator in the game critique space here on KZbin. The animations are fun, and the criticisms aren't drawn out to 8+ hours, and you always leave enough out that if I want to check it out, I don't feel like anything was spoiled. I think it's an unappreciated skill to weave around a subject, but still get your point across about how it made you feel. This was most evident in how many reviews for Kill The Justice League went. "Look what Harley did to Batman! shows endgame spoiler for the game they're reviewing Keep up the great work, Zenny. I hope that the bump you got from Starfield pays off and that the growth keeps coming. You deserve it, dude! Also, tell Pierce to shut the fuck up for me too :)

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Thank you so much. Since the starfield video I've been shown so much love and it makes all of this so worth it. Also I'll let pierce know! He's gonna be so pissed

[@brannanvitek1035]

Finally got around to this from my Watch Later playlist. Goddamn every Zenny video just gets better and better! Your animation is so much fun, and WOW merch already?? Congratulations on your channel's success!!

[@iiayoob]

The issue with drakes being too hard under level 40 is that the first game encouraged you to run away from encounters you weren't strong enough for. DD2 made most flights too easy, so when you finally run into a monster that you weren't supposed to kill yet, the game hasn't properly trained you to run away and leave it for later. Same reason for the wound accumulation. Punishing you for failing to kill it is supposed to make you think "oh shit, maybe this is too strong for me, I should run away and come back in a few levels"

[@Ronam0451]

Half of my time playing dd1 for the first time was running away from enemies

[@RaidenKaiser]

DD2 if there are literally any other monsters aggroing you tho good luck running away from the drake have fun being grabbed by a wolf nearby lol.

[@MapRef.41degreesN93degrresW]

You could take on drakes on normal mode (in the first game) at level 25-30 if you wanted to, but it was easier when you had better gear later on, so I wouldn't say the game "trained you to run away" it was more like- all my pawns are dead and get K.O.'d as soon as I revive them. It's a gear-based action rpg (not unlike Diablo except loads less complex or interesting) so if you aren't doing enough damage, you're "losing" a fight, but if you have the right upgraded weapons you are doing enough damage that it doesn't matter if your pawns are getting blasted. It was a very uneven experience, because up until Everfall or BBI, you could basically just deal with reviving pawns, doing some damage, and holding out with gallons of healing items and eventually you'd win by attrition. I mean just look at what they throw at you in the game for extra "challenge" (especially in the original) two Chimera's at once or two cockatrice or like 10 hellhounds and a gorechimera or the ghost lord dudes. It's baloney, it doesn't teach you anything except that the difficulty curve gets turned into "just put a bunch of enemies in a small arena because the enemy AI is terrible." The sequel clearly doesn't do much differently, only now it locks you into fights you don't have the equipment for.

[@jas6853]

I like the game but it feels like a step backwards compared to everything dark arisen had

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Yeah I've been seeing alot of people saying the same.

[@paranojack]

Just in awe on the growth and production Zenn master. Good luck to a million so excited to see where you take the channel next.

[@Zenny-YouTube]

The next videos animation is already in the works and it's going to be INSANE

[@Flopdoodle]

Yep. Game is S+, until the GODDAMN STORY. Dragon picked the item-store clerk as my love-interest because I kept gifting him shit to give me a discount on Ferrystones. I was going for the furry mama. I liked the ending after the unmoored world though, strictly because of the pawn.

[@Zenny-YouTube]

HAHAHA OMG you got shafted harder than me with the affinity system

[@SquircleYT]

They picked the blacksmith girl in batthal for me. Didn’t gift her anything or buy anything from her. I literally did 2 escort quests for her because they were actually really close and it made her a priority over everyone else in game.

[@mrmerrit1216]

Forger for me, I died laughing when it happened lmao

[@SnowInnocent]

I got that grandma that is living with her granddaughter in forest, because I was talking with her for FEW days as she didn't want to give me my mage ult

[@kingofthunder2151]

Bro your editing is THIS good? This is the most unique editing style I think I've ever seen, I'm most def subscribing💯

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Don't think I've seen a comment on my editing before but regardless thank you!

[@shaythemoonchild431]

I’m so glad someone else realized how baffling the story’s progression is. There are so many plot holes that make no sense. First of all, what was Disa’s goal in the end? Remain in power by having Sven be the Sovran? That wouldn’t have lasted for long considering she seemed to have forgotten that a big part of the Arisen’s duty is to kill and stop the dragon’s rampage. If her plan had succeeded, the True Arisen would not remember that they are to battle and stop the dragon and therefore the dragon would continue destroying villages until it eventually destroyed Vernworth. The dragon is unable to be destroyed by a random person because of the link between the arisen and the dragon. So…it would have been for nothing basically. Secondly, what was Lord Phaeus’s motive in doing this? He says it’s to end the dragon’s dogma but he wanted to control the dragon using the godsway. Why does this matter so much to him? There’s no backstory or explanation unless i missed a letter or something. Thirdly…where did all that evidence we collected go? The letter between Disa and Phaesus? The bill of arrest for the fake Sovran? That just all…puffed into thin air once the godsway was introduced. Suddenly, I now have to hunt that down. Fourthly, the storyline for Battahal was very short compared to the Vermund one. All we had to do was get this Amberious dude more resources to make a godsway for Phaesus and then the final battle. After spending 5 hours doing Vermund’s quest, I wanted it to be a little more involved like tracking down Phaesus, a bit more dialogue with the Empress who was way too unbothered by the fact that one of her citizens was planning to summon a dragon. Knowing more about the Brine and exactly how its the Pathfinder’s proxy. And maybe figuring out who or what Talos is! I think the story would have made alot more sense if they got rid of the first half were we’re trying to prove ourselves as the Arisen and instead focused more on the actual true meaning behind the game: gaining free will from the Pathfinder. P.S. I was absolutely livid that Disa got to go scot free for literally conspiring against the kingdom and acts of tyranny. So, I killed her. Sven was angry at me but I don’t really care what he thinks.

[@tb6664]

I have the same complaint about the story. Thier is no real payoff in any part of the story and main story NPC feel like side background NPC.

[@Nomenanza]

I realize this is an old comment but, since I stumbled upon this video, here goes: 1. You are correct about Disa, but one part missing is her goal of making Sven a Sovran goes alongside Phaesus' plan to control the dragon. No need to actually kill a dragon if you can just control one. 2. For Phaesus' motive, you can find a lot of documents in the lab which point to him being very well aware of the true nature of the world and the Endless Chain (basically cycle involving Arisen and Dragon), even addressing Pathfinder directly even though he can't see them. Basically, his goal aligns with the player's in a sense that they both want to break the Dragon's dogma. Which is where actually most of the confusion with the story lies, because helping him is a reasonable idea, but your character treats him like an evil villain. 3. The crux of the evidence revolved around exposing Sovran as the false Arisen, which would have worked until he was shown to be able to control pawns which dismisses all allegations, leading to Godsbane investigation. Do agree that the shift from one to another is bafflingly quick. 4. 100% agree about Battahl, that city barely has a storyline to it. 5. For the Talos, we do know what it is: Brine controlled construct made to "fix" anything that goes wrong within the cycle (including making the Dragon do its job if it refuses). Most of that comes from talking to the crazy grandpa at Harve village.

[@Ronam0451]

Disa literally tells you she just wanted to be sure Sven would be sovran so he would be safe from other people trying to take his place. It had nothing to do with staying in power. She wasn't worried about the dragon because she was working on a way to control it. Play the game.

[@FerunaAD]

I found that the exploring was simply not satisfieng. Explore for what? To fight the same mobs i have fought 50 times already on my way there? To discover some grey item consumable garbage that i don't realy need? "Great i just wasted 30 minutes running through this cave for some sap and a flower....thanks game."

[@Jameston]

I adore your critiques so far, your methods of showing the great highs and potential in addition to also showing different shortcomings is incredible. The storytelling you incorporate is inspiring, keep at it king!

[@Hepheat75]

This game could have been amazing but a lot of the execution holds it back. There's a lot of fun to have and hopefully Dragon's Dogma 3 will improve on what the second one failed at.

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Honestly I don't see the point of a third. In most regards THIS game was just a remake of the first game with the same start and end. Just an altered middle. If they can figure out a new dynamic to the destiny sure! If not then they need to move on

[@hmohngcheelee7549]

dd3 would be a cool game in the next like 10 years. I like dd2, but man it took forever to come out and like you said the execution held it back. Even the director said that this was a remake of dd1, but god they could have improved every way, but didn't.

[@redsaaryn3832]

Nope. They already set a precedent. They sell idiot literal sh😂T and idiots buy now they will not even try to put an effort and sell us all something even sh😂ttier than dd2

[@x-morones2330]

The fact that he's so angry about the way the game was created is exactly what the devs wanted; to weed out the ticktock brained INCELS.

[@Hepheat75]

@briandprice1981 ok

[@xstroburroughs6975]

I gotta say you are probably one of the best KZbin video essay people I have ever had the pleasure of listening to, you manage to keep your videos long without me getting bored or tired of your voice. You 100 percent deserve more attention.

[@liqqidsurgegaming2970]

I actually found the Orb at Check point a different way. I talked to a random knight and he said the guy at a shop had nice jewelry and crafts. So I looked around and found it at the shop lol.

[@Zenny-YouTube]

That's actually pretty damn cool

[@WUBMEWHITE]

Your fast travel problems could be solved by just adding fast travel points to the places you've been. But keeping ferrystones as they are as a expensive consumable. It keeps the thrill of exploring while cutting out tedious thing later on

[@Zenny-YouTube]

The game does attempt to do this with the portcrystals. But clearly doesn't hand you enough so I agree

[@Darkcur]

I want to address some points from your video: - The whole needing to go back to Vernworth was a red herring to avoid walking around and exploring the checkpoint rest town itself, because honestly I followed my usual instinct of looking at the stores before doing the quest, and lo what did I find on the forgerer's counter top? The jade orb. - a lot of the main quest problems could've been fixed if Brant was just more apprehensive and didn't exposition dump all over you or repeat whats already stated, if anything the NPC that should've done that was the Magister that you break out since it makes more sense for an old scholarly character to address these things. Additionally, part of the issue with Brant is that he drops to many quests on you from the begining, had they limited the amount at the beginning the flow would've been better. - I'm on the inverse side in terms of fast travel, I like that ferrystones are a consumable resource but I don't like how only two locations have port crystals from beginning. Like really why doesn't Bakbatthal have a port crystal, it makes no sense? I would've been screwed when Glyndwers sister gave me a ferrystone if hadn't already set down a port crystal in Bakbatthal. - the armor thing is hella scuffed when comparing to the first game, I really dont understand why they did that?! Like really it could've helped out a lot with the vocation designations, like only some vocations would have access to the over-armor plates while most can still wear under-armor padding or chainmail, etc... - yeah the regalia quest not having effect is sad and annoying, should've been an accessory you wear through the cape slot. - yeah the whole godsway beating the dragon makes no sense, I get the initial idea of wanting to break the cycle without an arisen but using an item that controls pawns to control a dragon is hella dumb, the fix though is to either say they want to use godsway for a pawn army to kill the dragon to avoid losing human lives. the other is that they work on alchemically refining the godsway further using the literal dragon corpse they've been hiding to control the arisen and therefore the dragon.

[@Syrnbjorn]

The godsway makes a bit of sense considering that the dragons are usually pawns or other Arisen

[@Darkcur]

Dragons are very much connected to the Arisen, to control the big dragons is to control the Arisen themselves.

[@amannamedsquid313]

Having to overthrow the power hungry tyrannical queen regent, her puppet ruler of a son, and their army of mind-controlled pawns and maybe an undead or a homemade vat-grown dragon that they planned to use to fight the Royce Dragon and/or conquer the world would've been pretty awesome.

[@CarterChaosdiver-cv5lh]

56:31 I don’t know why but for some reason the way you said “dragon” and “boring” is hilarious.

[@unironicallydel7527]

Its kindof amazing and baffling that an mmo like FFXIV literally has better AI than most AAA games ever have had. FFXIV AI dodge AoE attacks, show you where to go in fights, do decent enough damage, etc. How does an MMO have better AI than a game as supposed 'high quality' as a AAA game? You'd think after 40 or so years they'd've figured this shit out by now, Square Enix apparently have.

[@Zenny-YouTube]

I'd never expect square enix of all companies to manage thier games better than most

[@unironicallydel7527]

@@Zenny-KZbin To be far its a branch of Square that is actually competent unlike most of the company. CBU 3 is goated. (Creative Business Unit III) If only the name was as creative as what the team does.

[@WGasmss]

best part about the sphinx and the single save is that the game actually thinks anyone is going to want to play this again just to see what the sphinx had. meanwhile i dropped 800 hour son elden ring got every trophy and barely fast traveled the entire time, cause the travel is just that good and i like fighting (this game shouldve been a hit ) but when you arent fighting monster, you're just bored... and its like you said, why would i play n RPG where i cant choose what i want to wear. Fashion is like 70% of the reason i play RPG's

[@Old_Man_Bernard]

I find it very cute that the story segment stars with the intermission of your own narrative, hope it was an intentional nod

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Very intentional! So glad someone noticed

[@Old_Man_Bernard]

@@Zenny-KZbin I'm very hyped for where Algorithm goes. At first I thought it was a strange choice to have a self created overarching narrative between video essays, but I gotta say, it's paid off in my eyes.

[@DauntedThrower9]

I'm so happy to of discovered your channel, right up my alley and you always cover games I either already had opinions on or interested in and I love how in depth you go. Also your animations are top notch and great ways to transition scene to scene. Looking forward to the next one!

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Cheers my dude! Always a joy seeing comments enjoying the videos 😊

[@oneofnone7947]

This is a very good video you have evolved so much in such little time and it's really clear you love what you do also that track during the upgrade was incredible

[@Zenny-YouTube]

The upgrade scene has to be the most fun I've had making a video

[@benjaminaswad6486]

Once you've reached the edge of the map, it feels tiny.

[@Zenny-YouTube]

@@benjaminaswad6486 once you are in the desert half of the map I do agree

[@Barbarossahhh]

Ive watched a few of your videos now and youve really earned my subscription! Hounestly dont understand why its still barely 20k. All the animations and editing are really impressive and I actually didnt realise it was an hour long review until I moused over the timeline, thats how engaged I was. Good stuff, keep it up!

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Cheers man! The animation stuffs been a ton of fun! Next video is gonna blow everyone away!

[@Virtual_Citizens_Gaming]

1 hour video, saved me 60 hours of suffering. Thank you.

[@Ronam0451]

Even with all the problems you're still missing out on a pretty good game.

[@_Deadlined]

I stumbled across your channel from your Road 96 video, I love the effort and style you put into your videos, keep it up!

[@josephh8117]

I would suggest "Very rare" -> "fairly rare" for ferrystones; merchants do replace them when you buy them out

[@spartan02elite]

They're not rare whatsoever they're avaliable in every hub and village every single one has a trade that has a ferry stone for sale all you have to do is stock up to 3-5 and then maintain that amount it's a slight inconvenience and an item you have to keep in mind but they're not rare in the slightest I've sat on 10 ferrystones and it only dropped when I consciously choose to use them up in quick succession

[@josephh8117]

@@spartan02elite your perception of this might depend on how much you use them. i also have a pretty solid supply but i travel the old fashioned way a lot, even on paths i've explored already.

[@iluvatarchem]

Ferrystones are not rare at all. You can use 1 in each trip. These are DESIGNED to be used once per trip from 15ish level and above. Take into account that very few people play the game on their own. Of course you will think fairyatonea are limited when all you do is googling and rushing... People are just clueless.

[@calebmurphy8003]

How do you only have 20k followers? The edititing, delivery, everything is phenomenal

[@jh9794]

Anyone else remember godsbane resetting in front of that one chest and wondering if that 1 super rare drop is even actually there(*cough* getting the shadow armor set that the intro guy wore*cough*)? Dragons dogma has a lot of those small, super hidden, crevices. But once you discover them the first time you stop going to them when you realize their almost pointless.

[@Zenny-YouTube]

That's kinda of the problem with travel, the world is super cool to discover! So many cool things to see and do!... once

[@TerdFergeson]

Just found your channel and you've quickly become one of my favorites. I've been binging all your videos this week, keep up the good work!

[@oscargomezrivera]

This video was a roller-coaster you took me from owning the game and not playing it, to wanting to sell it and then wanting to play it and finish it I sold it for 30 bucks and subscribed to your channel

[@itsmantras]

brother you are literally just making a small scale tv show/movie and I absolutely love it. Keep doing what ya doing

[@Zenny-YouTube]

@@itsmantras oh buddy. There are 12 mins of animation in the next video. 3 of which is a mecha anime style fight. Strap in and sub!

[@RaidenKaiser]

Played after a recent patch and somehow pawn ai got even worse. Now fighter and warrior pawns instead of rarely ever bothering to use their launch ability they now spam it at the most pointless of times sending you flying mid combat. Like dood wtf why are you flinging me off a cliff!? What have I done to deserve this?!

[@Zenny-YouTube]

FLY ARISEN, FLY!

[@lucasnikodemus8813]

Wait, how you ONLY have 18.5k subs! I won't stand for this! Have another! You're amazing at this! You'll be big soon! I'm sure of it!

[@Zenny-YouTube]

I've been growing nicely over the last year! Getting there slowly but surely

[@HeartoftheWinter]

Dragons Dogma 2 is one of those games that are great, but at the same time actively tries to make the players hate the game.

[@Zenny-YouTube]

The fact that I still long to play this game again after all this time TELLS me it's good. But then I remember the walking..

[@zackrack4006]

I love how, you popped up one day on my screen and I proceeded to watch every one of your videos to catch up on the animations and I'm now waiting for new releases! I adore the way you do things, keep it up it's amazing content you produce!

[@Zenny-YouTube]

If you are enjoying the animation you are going to lose your shit in the next video. It's going to be insane!

[@zackrack4006]

@@Zenny-KZbin Now i am beyond hyped! Cant wait!

[@Sirfortune881]

Same here

[@Greg137-go8gv]

The dragon can't be controlled with a godsway, because a godsway can't control an arisen, and the Dragon is a former arisen who faced the seneschal and lost..

[@LexiconPrime7]

I never seemed to find anything worth exploring for unfortunately. Gear wasn't very interesting and there wasn't enough enemy variety to keep combat entertaining for very long.

[@deadeye4047]

Can't wait for your Star Wars Outlaws review. These vids are always so fun to watch.

[@Greatduck777]

Games like horizon zero dawn have done the same kind of ferry stone thing, but in horizon zero dawn, you can eventually craft/buy a golden fast travel pack that lets you fast travel an unlimited amount of times.

[@Zenny-YouTube]

There is an unlimited ferrystone in the dlc of the first game. They will eventually add the item to dd2 aswell, they just cannot add it now, as dd2 dlc would lose its designed pacing if players went in with thier unlimited ferrystone.

[@ryankoopacanada]

Another FANTASTIC video Zenny, your really knocking it out of the park with the animation. If there was EVER an anime made by you, I’d watch EVERY SEASON UNTIL THE DAY I DIE :D

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Well with enough money I'd be sure to make it happen!

[@ryankoopacanada]

@@Zenny-KZbin if u ever need ideas for plots, I have a few :)

[@cellorocket7138]

3rd year in a row as the most underrated channel on youtube HANDS DOWN. Every single video your animation gets astronomically better than the last, your latest intro RIPS, the sequence at 51:17 i watched like 20 times, each aspect is firing on all cylinders. I don't know enough about the craft of animation to give you the extensive comment you deserve, but please keep up the incredible work!!

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Thanks! But trust me, wait 2 weeks. New video has animation that'll blow you awayA

[@TheHolyHomeboy]

I agreed with every single point you said. You nailed basically every actual gameplay issue that no one seems to talk about, meaning that the mainstream youtubers do not dare to mention so they aren't forsaken by the holy capcom CEO. They only talked about the microtransactions and performance rather than the fundamental issues with the actual game.

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Alot of KZbinrs just want a quick video idea to grab them views. I strive to show you EVERYTHING worth actually talking about

[@cheemsdoge]

“It cannot award you with a cool pair of pants because your legs don’t work.”

[@nemnymeria7873]

Instead of fixing, improving what fans hate from the original game. They decided to do the same plot and keeps everything in it. You can even called this Dragon Dogma remaster 2024, it's not a new game, it's the same game same plot but improved in graphic.

[@Zenny-YouTube]

From what I can see from those who played both in my comments so many people keep saying this is just a remake with afew minor alterations, which kind of makes me understand why I enjoyed the game more than most, what I experienced was all new, something not every player had the privilege of

[@ZiggityZeke]

This is the a super high effort channel, sooo underrated, hope you hit 100k this year

[@Zenny-YouTube]

100k seems more possible every day!

[@ZiggityZeke]

@@Zenny-KZbin you got this man, you got the good content

[@ramonborchert9167]

Hi Zenny i know you'll probably never read this comment but i just wanted to say THANK YOU! for making your videos!! I love your Critiques/analyzations for how funny and true they are, and that you can say what you like about the games and can genuinely defend a game even trough its flaws! But also for the extremely funny comments and rants you have during your videos about things you dont like often presented with sarcasm😂. It makes people see how much thought and effort goes into your videos, i cant even fathom how much work it must be to create such amazing videos, the awesome editing, the humor, the superb scripting, and your awesome audio editing. I stopped watching normal tv for years now because in germany its impossible to watch tv if you dont want to be bombarded with commercials every 2 seconds and lose your mind over the brainless content presented there, and over the steady decline of holywood and its awful movies over the past 3 years im happy i found you on youtube (which is a feat in it self if youtube tries to constantly push only german content creators on you because you dont live in america Q_Q). You are together with Whitelight one of my absolute favourite youtubers and im happy you take your time and make longer videos with 1 hour plus time, more to enjoy for me ;D. You are actually helping me through a hard time in which i struggle to feel better from my chronic depression, so your videos are one of the few means to lighten my mood. So keep making your videos i really love them. Thank you very much again!! KZbinrs like you have to be big in my opinion I wish you way more subscribers on youtube and supporters on Patreon! Ps. One of my favourite quotes from Zenny "THE F*CK DO YOU MEAN UUUHHHH!!!!????" I just couldn't stop laughing after that out of the blue (from Zennys starfield crituiqe).

[@Zenny-YouTube]

This comment was such a joy to read thank you so very much. I'll be sure to get more videos out for you to enjoy soon! Also!! It's so funny that you remember that from the starfield video. Being remembered for an actual line in a video is so heart warming. Thank you for this comment. It truly made my day

[@ramonborchert9167]

@@Zenny-KZbin 😍wow you actually read it thanks never happend to me bofore 🤣 that someone answered my comments, im happy that you liked it :D im actually binge watching your videos again at the moment :D

[@johnjuandemarco]

Just commenting with hopes that more engagement means more love from the algorithm because man, your channel is gold

[@styxriverr5237]

My favorite moment with the game was running into the "urchin" with a hat, him "Hiding" and me getting a prompt while looking at the vaguely lost expression on my Arisen's face as a guard asked me if I had seen the boy..... Who was around the corner behind me in plain view. Lost my shit laughing, my friends watching me also lost their shit laughing. So naturally I lied to the guard. The lad's been my favorite npc, it was just after the first real talk with the him that I realized exactly who he was. That made me rather sad, but hopeful I could resolve any problems that come in the future.

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Figuring out who he is before the reveal was such a thrill!

[@styxriverr5237]

Dragon's Dogma 2 is very flawed but it still has that magical spark the first one had. Plus I've been getting great amusement throwing pawns off of bridge when I even suspect Dragon's plague.

[@-sicarius-gfxkohi8867]

in 34 hours of playtime, i missed out on 100% of elven content because i couldn't be asked to go travel back and forth to Glyndwer. It's only after getting the true ending, that a TP to the elven village appeared. It was too late for me to try any quests over there so i just let them all die

[@Zenny-YouTube]

It's sad that the game doesn't have a more direct means of getting you to start large questlines. Really does just expect you to stumble upon them

[@PalaDave99]

DD2 does almost everything really well but in a world of this size I do agree that more QOL changes would have been needed for it to work as it should. The one major criticism I have is that this game should have sth like the Everfall, with UNIQUE bosses. That welsh-named ghost was absolutely amazing to fight and it shows just how much they could have done. Hopefully this game's Dark Arisen equivalent will drop and fix the issues of the base version just like it did for the first game.

[@Flopdoodle]

lack of monster-variety aside, the Unmoored World is WAY better than everfall. Everfall was a boring slog. You see the unique monsters once and you still traverse the same old boring hallways to fight them. It was simply not good. Unmoored World is way better in the exploration aspect but fails in the unique-monsters, but overall an improvement. Whatever Dark Arisen equivalent they have planned, I really hope it's not just a single lengthy dungeon but a new zone with new towns and lots of dungeons.

[@damiennixel925]

No being able to buy to/sell from inventory is criminal.

[@Ronam0451]

​@@Flopdoodlethe everfall didn't force you to finish it in a limited time tho.

[@DeadAlcoholZombie]

This channel will explode at some point, and I was here before.

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Fingers crossed that it'll be when my next video goes up!

[@Swaytekk]

This game is the carton of milk you don’t want to throw away

[@Zenny-YouTube]

But... but I love milk

[@RylandWithoutTheD]

Subbed just for the unique intro not even to mention how good the content itself was

[@yharnamiyhill787]

42:20 You can command your pawns to follow you in order to evade the Dragon's Meteron. But to your point, that damn dragon spams it.... Not even my Pawn with 50% incatation speed can counter it. Spamming Mystic Spearhand's invincibility shield is too clutch...

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Whenever meteor was activated or pending I always pressed follow me. It may even show up in the footage. Sadly the response from the ai was a tad too slow and just didn't work out for me

[@dezmondo007]

Using the same song, for just about every section of an 1hr and 10min video essay, starting the song from the beginning everytime is CRAZY!

[@pierce_paints]

Hey, this Pierce guy might be onto something.

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Don't tell him that I told you this, but he might be like 60% right... BUT DONT TELL HIM THAT.

[@dougnarrbert3164]

Been around watching since you had about 2k subs, you deserve that growth amigo

[@Zenny-YouTube]

We are getting there!

[@SquattingSamurai]

This game is the quintessential example of Japanese/Eastern game design remained unchecked by the western audience. Asian games tend to be the grindiest, with the most amount of mechanics and things to do, and it’s fine if you’re a fan of it, but most people aren’t. It is not fun to spend hours or even days grinding the same shit just to get better gear. It is not fun to replay an entire game just to get an extra line of dialogue because you beat the game once. And yet, Asian RPGs do that all the time

[@Ronam0451]

This game has pretty much no grind tho. By level 40 you'll be overpowered already, it's stupid easy

[@GeteMachine]

Yeah. I noticed that (and prefer) how westerns RPGs tend to focus more on things that actually make an RPG role-playing. Like character building, stat and substat building, attributes, player choice, convo-ing relationships, interacting with the world, with things to do outside of combat (Elder Scrolls, Dagon Age, OG Fallout, New Vegas), at a slower but consistent pace. Mostly the ones inspired by D&D. Dogma proves that its really just a JRPG with a wester can of paint, and the flaws that come with it. Most of that for DD fans had to come up with their own because DD1 told you literally nothing. Where their games only prioritize combat, grinding, collecting, and repetition, with not much overworld focus. Thats the problem with DD being done by just a Japanese studio. It is designed for a western audience but lacks what western players want from RPGs, as opposed to it being a pure action game. The director was inspired by D&D as well but none of those elements inspired any mechanic in the game. Its why DD lacks so much that Elder Scrolls, and Dragon Age, have. Japanese audiences probably want to just grind all-day, because to them its only about the accomplishment. Not the experience. Souls games only differ in its appeal to western gamers because its difficulty still meshes with western audiences that focus more on wanting builds and experimentation, which is more of a western RPG element. Especially on the older Isomeric RPGs where method determines everything. Not grinding.

[@BurlapRat]

Damn that exploration so fun with the five enemy types and chests that give you worse stuff than you can buy in stores. Can't wait to walk across the map again.

[@BasssTable]

i had so much fun with the game but the story is hotdog water. great vid.

[@Flopdoodle]

God the story is shit. If there's anything that makes me seethe it's the wasted potential.

[@Joseph_Biten]

"ahh pee gee" and here I was thinking it was an "arr pee gee" so I guess that's where our perspective shifts

[@Zenny-YouTube]

@@Joseph_Biten the Aussie accent, it's a bloody bitch

[@Autista_Atipico]

When I learned about that story I was like "holy shit, this story is going to be amazing, with a lot of characters dinamics, relationships and secrets", but the game delivers NOTHING

[@Zenny-YouTube]

I still don't understand how the game doesn't deliver any story beats until the end of it all. Like.... how?!

[@Autista_Atipico]

@@Zenny-KZbin and it barely delivers those as well. Like, I thought we would use Sven and Wilhelmina to play with the nobles in a lesser version of Game of Thrones, but nope. All that for nothing. And don't get me started with Talos...

[@LowResCatExplosion]

The first game has the story grind to a halt when Grigori arrives for the second time to tell you that everything you've done so far, with Salvation, the rebellion, Fournival's trial, the Duke, helping Selene etc., has all been pointless in the grand scheme of things, and the only thing that matters is you and him. The sequel doesn't even give you that honor. Story lines just fade away at various points for no reason, and fighting the dragon feels more like another thing to check off on the to-do list, and we don't even get to know his name

[@Autista_Atipico]

@@LowResCatExplosion pain. Just pain. if the game didn't talk about the dragon every 2 min I would forget about him easily. It's the same problem that Far Cry 4 has. An amazing concept of a villain that is never used. Pain...

[@man3451]

First time watching your channel, it just appeared in my recommended randomly, chilling there. Ngl, I love the way the video is constructed/animated and that combination of 3D with 2D? Also, the way the characters are built reminds me too much of Madness Combat, because of the floating hands lmao. Subscribed btw

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Oh sweet first time viewer. Looks like the algorithm is plugging the video a little that's awesome! Hope you are enjoying yourself! Not ad much animation in this one compared to my last 2 videos but that will be changing in the next one!

[@man3451]

@@Zenny-KZbin I've also seen your other videos! They really are very interesting to see, especially because of the lore added between sections, first time I've seen that. You are quite unique in the way you criticize and review things. I wouldn't be surprised if you are being blessed by KZbin's algorithm rn, you deserve it to be honest. You will be very big someday!

[@Zenny-YouTube]

@@man3451 the lore has been such a passion project for me. Naturally there are those who hate it. But it's so fun for me

[@man3451]

@@Zenny-KZbin Naturally, that's how things are, unfortunately. The good thing is that there are many people who support you in this, and the lore introduced in the videos is quite interesting. It's like those minigames that are inside games, basically the same thing, but in videos. It gives one more reason to watch the video, not only because you are criticizing a game, but also to see how the inside lore plays out in them.

[@sigma4357]

I like how the portcrystals you place around the map end up back in your inventory in NG+. Instead of being in the places you spent hours placing them. It's not like they carried over in DDDA. it's also great that most centeral loctions don't have their own portcrystals until the endgame. It's not like I want to be able to travel to the elf village or battahl very often. But hey at least a fishing village in the middle of nowhere you visit 3 times gets it's own portcrystal. That's just neat. This was so well thought out that they didn't even add the eternal ferrystone from DDDA. It's not like that fixed most of the travel problems in the original and rewarded the player for thinking about where they would put their limited ammount of portcrystals. After all you could just dupe them and then have an infinate amount of fast travel locations, it's not likle they capped the number of active portcrystals to 10 so that you would always explore and thus have fun. No that would be a terribel way to limit the player.

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Yeah that fishing village having a port crystal was so fucking confusing, it only makes sense once that castle rises from the ocean

[@sigma4357]

@@Zenny-KZbin Still dont understand why it wasn't put in the castle

[@thomaswilliams430]

I had like 10 ads while trying to watch these and eventually spaced out and then realized it

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Thank you for letting me know. I'll sus the edits tab and see if i can lower ads

[@DdHenley307]

The game developer is wrong. It does get boring repeatedly walking through the same area. I didnt mind the fast travel system. I had around 20 or more ferrystones at most points from exploration and buying them from vendors. I did not like the stamina system when out of combat. Games have done it so you can run around but not them. Dumb or lazy like alot of this game. Still like it but didn't love it

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Yeah it's so dumb. The enable infinite stamina when you are in the 2 cities. But then you leave and remain out of combat and your stamina starts draining. So dumb

[@thesatinbowebird]

I didn't realise i killed the last boss in this game, and then the credits started rolling. It was very underwhelming and having no constant fast travel didn't make me want to explore the world

[@KiraSlith]

I love that technically, the only difference in the exploration segment between DragDog and Skyrim is that Skyrim has free fast travel and story dungeons. Skyrim's world is packed to the gills with stuff to find, NPCs to meet who oft have unique dialog, and dungeons to explore, much of which isn't tied to any quest, but you'll never come across any of it if you fast travel everywhere. Skyrim's world map is also just as misleading, seemingly on purpose, but outside the northwestern quarter of Skyrim it doesn't have any impact on a "normal" playthrough, because people just fast travel everywhere. Most people don't have the self-control not to fast travel, so taking that away or severely restricting it forces the player to explore, and the Q&A team to discover the areas that need something more during testing.

[@jakel2837]

In my experience taking away fast travel on a map large enough to need it just makes a boring game

[@TheLastCin]

@@jakel2837 Honestly. I only explore to do the quests and leave, so taking away the fast travel hasn't made me explore more.

[@Kiwicrack]

happy to see not much changed from Dragon's Dogma 1. Best fucking moments I had on the first game: 1 dying to fall damage because I couldn't knock a gryphon out of the sky quick enough, so we BOTH took a tumble 2. Spelunking some ruins and having a harpy grab my healer pawn and drop her off into a chasm. Had to walk all the way back for an hour.

[@whateverman187]

Exploration and combat: masterpiece Virtually everything else (especially story and characters): a spectrum of trash

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Ying and yang

[@bigsweetz9384]

I think masterpiece is an egregious hyperbole. It’s fun, but you have less enemy diversity than the fucking odyssey. Vocations seem unfinished. Exploration doesn’t yield any significant rewards. Progression is entirely locked to gold. Even the fighting is tbh kind of clunky, trying to climb in the direction you want to go doesn’t work consistently. The various vocation abilities are a mixed bag of either useless or broken. Etc.

[@SeasoningTheObese]

@@bigsweetz9384 12 years to arrive at Dragon's Dogma .8 instead of 2 is a miraculous disaster.

[@Professor-Badger]

For fast travel in DD I like the infinite ferrystone but the limited port crystals personally as I still need to go out places to put them down but when I forget to bring the item I needed for a quest cause I got distracted I'm no pissy and upset the entire trip back. It gets to a point in the game where it doesn't matter how much the stones cost anyways cause you're loaded or you're like me and don't care about your gear over the convenience of getting things done so you buy them whenever you see them.

[@bongwaterbojack]

How could you miss the bestest part of save files? Not only can you not have multiple save files for a character to go back to, (unless this was patched since I played) you can not create a second character. It's doable with workarounds, but by default, the game does not allow you to have more than 1. If you start a new character, the old one is overwritten.

[@Zenny-YouTube]

@@bongwaterbojack it's so lame. They did it because of the pawn system. You levels carry over to other worlds. Letting people have multiple pawns out there was something they wanted to avoid. But still super lame

[@bongwaterbojack]

@@Zenny-KZbin Feels like that could've been solved by letting people have one "active" pawn. i.e. the only pawn that pops up for others is the one from your most recent save. Or, since they're hoping to sell literally millions of copies of the game regardless, realize that that is a stupid thing to worry about to begin with. The solution is definitely NOT to try and force people to have a single character in an RPG of all things.

[@Irishmist94h0]

Right just finished and all I can say is interstellar I highly enjoyed the whole format layout and delivery great job.ill watch a couple more hopefully it helps the algorithm

[@lazylantern3335]

Honestly, another great critique and ill definitely try to pick up the game at some point. I love the way you anaylze games and give critique to various aspects of the gameplay: Story, Combat, exploration, etc. pointing out flaws that you found, and offering solutions, which I think opens up interesting discussions and hearing others opinions. Everything doesn't feel black and white in terms of 'its ALL Bad' or 'Its ALL Good' and give credit to the game where credit is due. No game is perfect after all and gives the chance to properly give feedback to developers what they loved about the game and what needs improvement. Also shows you can still love a game despite it's various flaws or personal critiques and troubles. Which im very famailar with and others as well I imagine. Though in general I find trouble at times finding videos that open up discussion of a games both pro and negatives and ESPECIALLY offering solutions or ideas to fix said problem which may or may not be perfect but its a good place to start. Overall I enjoy your videos, and keep up the good work!

[@Zenny-YouTube]

It's nice hearing someone say they like the balanced approach to the criticism. Helps me cement my vision for these videos. So thank you!

[@kkulist]

You're a sight for sore eyes. Dragon's Dogma (especially with the definitive edition of Dark Arisen) is one of my fave games of all, and I have a lot of ... feelings about this sequel. It'll be interesting to hear what you have to say! My only opinion is that I should wait for the definitive edition of DD2 before I solidify any of those feelings I have. Thanks for the hard work, Zenny.

[@kkulist]

Excellent video, and I certainly agree with everything you said. I was able to save scum decently 99% of the time, but even then, I would have to completely exit the game to the start menu (which takes longer than loading the game from its save state), and that's just too much of a hassle. The worst part about this game is that there are game-breaking bugs that still exist that completely soft-lock the entire game. I had 86 hours into it and, despite everything, was having a blast-then I happened to decide to participate in the wrong side quest and completely ruined my game. I had to start all over, and despite quickly making it to the level I once was, I could not bring myself to play anymore. I hope that the definitive edition smooths most, if not all, of the issues I had. I desperately want to love this game because, if nothing else, the exploration and gameplay are even better than the definitive edition of the first, but what the first game also had been its unique atmosphere. DD certainly borrowed its theming around bad fate and unimaginable power from Berserk, but it also carved its own fairytale-like way. With DD2, instead of expanding upon that world, it doubles down, desperately trying to be a Dragon's Dogma game instead of a true sequel-if that makes any sense at all.

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Dd2 felt alot of the same in regards to the first game. Did alot of things better but when you say it borrowed things I couldn't agree more!

[@wot7969]

Really great video, love the animations, i can tell you have worked hard on them, i might suggest making different facial expressions handdrawn on your avatar. Though i know that takes a long time and its probably too much work for such a meaningless thing, love your voice though!

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Cheers! New video has entirely new sets of 2d avatar sets so you'll be getting what you want!

[@wot7969]

@@Zenny-KZbin shit youre working like studio mappa, good luck 👍

[@yunuss58]

Sorry, if you loosing your voice was the funniest thing for me this month

[@Zenny-YouTube]

That game drove me insane at so many points that the video got delayed by a 2 weeks until I got my voice back I'm order to record hahahaha

[@Zaerin87]

Great video so far, just a quick note on your take regarding the lack of fast-travel options (before having the necessary crystals). You paint the whole picture of going on a random sidequest, following objectives, getting sidetracked, finding new stuff and new challenges to explore...I mean, yeah. That's what (good) open world RPG's do. But the lack of available fast-travel is not necessary to achieve this. Of course there'll always be people who by default fast-travel anywhere. But other massively popular open world "RPG's" like The Witcher 3, Elden Ring, Cyberpunk, God of War, Final Fantasy XVI and VII Rebirth (just to name a bunch of the most recent ones) all have fast-travel systems that, with some limitations like having to go to specific fast travel points or having to unlock fast travel sites first, ARE constantly available without the need to purchase specific items that either aren't affordable or available in the beginning-to-middle sections of the game, and ALL of those games invite the same type of playstyle. You go somewhere to do a quest, you end up somewhere else, you get sidetracked, you find a chest, a platforming challenge, a puzzle, another sidequest, a combat-encounter, whatever. And then you get caught up in that and you dynamically explore the world and develop your character or your skills that way. Most of those games incentivize the discovery bit by not giving you all the fast-travel points from the get-go, but only allowing you to fast-travel once you've discovered a fast-travel point, or forcing you to go to other fast-travel points or hubs to be able to teleport elsewhere. But Elden Ring (arguably one of the best and highest rated ones of the last few years) doesn't even do that. Once you've got a site of grace you can teleport there at almost any time you want. And yet exploration of the vast open world is one of the main driving factors in the game, regardless of the availability of the fast travel system.

[@dandanthetvman1819]

I’m just gonna say it. I don’t do side quests in the game. Unless the side quest takes place in the location I’m at. If I have to travel then I won’t do it. It’s just not worth it

[@Zenny-YouTube]

The amount of travelling required was always frustrating

[@angelcrush3320]

@@Zenny-KZbin I agree but only because the density of the enimys is too high and because the quest "rewards" could literally not be any worse

[@Epoch2498]

Can I just say as a newcomer to this channel, your opening animation is amazing. Oh, I also been a fan of DD since 2012, but whatever. Great watch.

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Cheers! The next video as an entirely now animated title card! It's so fun

[@deathound]

Honestly, the very mechanic of losing max health during combat is insane, the first game didn't have that, and it still was a challenge without needing to be so punishing. That's such a major turn-off for me on this game, I was excited for it but if I wanna do another Arc of Obliteration run only to get so massively punished for tanking during charge then that negates the whole point. Plus, going without pawns becomes so much more extremely punishing in this case, as with the first game you could throw 'em off a cliff, but in this one they seem mandatory to not make it a living hell.

[@Flopdoodle]

Why would you go without pawns? They are the entire point of this franchise. If you want a good single-adventurer RPG, there's so many others better games to choose from.

[@deathound]

@@Flopdoodle They're not the entire point. The main reason to do it in DD1 was because they actually felt more like a hindrance than anything else, plus I found it far more fun and engaging to deal with situations solo, figure out how to approach combat situations and the likes. It kinda turned each encounter into it's own kind of puzzle if you will, which I found far more fun that normal. Plus, having to constantly buy equipment and items for the pawns, and their constant rambling about how goblins are weak to fire kinda just made it a better experience for me overall. Everyone plays games differently, and if Pawns were so mandatory, the game would've given you a game over if they died. However, with the systems in place in DD2, it's practically impossible for a player like me. While the enhanced challenge can be fun, the systems in place make fighting anything slightly higher in level than you a complete nightmare. Again, the previous game had it's challenges, but here it's far too extreme for solo players who aren't masochists lol

[@6Mourning6Star6]

"killing monsters makes brain go wee" lmfao I'm dead

[@Zenny-YouTube]

My brain is simply made of many weeee moments

[@MrWolfpack131]

That's the 2nd time a game has paired ya off with a character ya didn't give a fuck about like a Tumblrite with two pair of characters who stood next to each other

[@Zenny-YouTube]

Video games as a whole hate me and I can prove it!