Hands on First Impressions of Dragon's Dogma 2 as a Newbie
Unleash the pawns when Dragon's Dogma 2 from Capcom launches on March 22nd and get a taste of the action ahead of release with first impressions from Gamesplanet while you wait!
By Craig Bishop (Gamesplanet)
Dragon's Dogma 2 Review copy was provided by Capcom for testing purposes, opinions are Gamesplanet's own and not representative of Capcom. Performance stated is in a pre-release build and may not reflect the final game.
One of the most hotly anticipated RPG sequels of the year is set for release later this week on March 22nd with the release of Dragon's Dogma 2 from Capcom. But just how is the game? And more importantly, how will newcomers feel with no prior experience in the series? Thanks to our friends at Capcom, we were granted access to the game ahead of the official launch so we can give you a first impressions write-up from someone who has never touched the series before!
Starting Out in the World
While I have no experience with the Dragon's Dogma series, I have been around my fair share of RPGs with countless Assassins Creed, The Witcher, Final Fantasy, Dragon's Age, The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim, Fallout, Mass Effect, Fable, Knights of the Old Republic and more under my belt. So with that in mind I'll be looking to compare it with other RPGs and focus less on how it is compared to the original game. We're also limited in how much story we can share with you, and spoilers will be kept to a minimum based on a few hours of play, which barely scratches the surface in a large RPG that could easily see you spend hundreds of hours in the world.
The game seems to be set in a parallel world from the original game, with you once again playing as the Arisen. Awakening in a prison you begin by creating your character, and let me tell you, if you're a fan of customisation then Dragon's Dogma 2 does not disappoint with a slew of options to customise your character. You can even pick from various presets if you're not the creative type. Body wise you are given the choice between making a human or a cat creature. Once you're happy with your looks you can pick a vocation, which is the game equivalent of a class. You're given a choice of Fighter, Archer, Mage or Thief. For my play I opted a Human Fighter.
Initially you get put to work and one of the first tasks you're greeted with is picking up and moving rocks, yes, manual labour in prison is real. Of course things get real fast and before you know it there's a threat to deal with and you're introduced to the combat, which plays a bit like Final Fantasy 16's style. You can use said rocks to throw at enemies faces and dish a bit of damage, or you can stab your sword in their face. At the start you only have a few attacks, but it's more than enough to do the job. After that opening area you are unleashed in the open world, and it's a big world to explore. You can also try new skills on enemies, which are like power moves that can be assigned to a combination of buttons to perform. At the start you only have a couple moves, but you can unlock more by spending skill points at any vocation trainer (usually at innkeepers), and eventually you'll even be able to unlock advanced classes.
Journey into the Unknown
Once you make your way to the first outpost you're given the option to recruit Pawns, which are essentially companions - each with their own vocation and may have their own set of traits. For example, one may have knowledge about a certain area and will guide you, while another may have useful spells for aiding you in a fight. Pawns have the same set of vocations as the player does, and you can swap them out at any time by hiring new ones. Be aware you can only have a limited set of pawns with you at once and choosing the right pawn may make your journey easier. You can also share these with other players online, if you have the network feature switched on. And by doing this your creations can help others in their adventures as they can point out hints while out in the world. For the review purpose, Capcom has added their own set of pawns that can be hired. I am not sure if that's the same for launch, but I imagine that it would be.
Moving out from the initial confides of the outpost I ventured out, and aided by my pawns I encountered a few goblins and harpies, that did not seem to be put up much of a challenge. We then marched our party onward towards the first village. As you'd expect with an open world, there's plenty of things off the beaten path to engage in including chests, side quests and larger beasts.
You get a little flashback about your early life and discover that you're an Arisen, but what is your true role in the story?
Facing a Cyclops, Making Camp
Like in the hugely popular Elder Scrolls V Skyrim, you'll want to loot as much as you can - but be aware that you can easily carry too much and early on, so it's best to store your excess weight in storage, which you can do at any innkeeper. Once we found out a bit more about our origins it was time to move on once again to the first city in the game, Vernworth. While trekking there we had to make camp using a handy tool that lets you set out a camp at any fire in the open world.
Time in the game is always moving, with a dynamic day/night cycle, and certain quests, NPCs and events may only occur during specific moments. Along the way to Vernworth our party encountered a huge Cyclops, which tested my combat skills as I grabbed his feet and caused him to fall over so I could lunge my sword into his round belly. You can even climb certain foes, aiming at weak points of your enemies, which reminded me a bit of how you take on bosses in Shadow of the Colossus.
Once that was done we needed to find a way forward, but there was a rock formation preventing us from progressing. Luckily there was a pile of rocks with some water behind it, and by throwing a rock at said pile, it caused the water to come gushing out and create a path for our party to move forward. We then took a cart ride to the city, though we had the option to make our own way there.
The City of Vernworth
Setting foot in Vernworth is a sight to behold, and while not the best looking city I've seen in an RPG, it definitely does the job with various shops, blacksmiths and more to take in. I took the opportunity to get some new armor for my Fighter, and you can use certain materials to upgrade your gear further. Once there I made another story discovery, that may shape where the game goes next. However, that's for later as there's only so much you can write in a first impressions!
What next?
And that's just a measly 5 hours, there's a huge world to explore and so much to do that I barely even scratched the surface of my time with Dragon's Dogma 2. What I can say is that those looking for a meaty open world filled with plenty of action in should feel at home as the game is suitable for a number of players, whether you're a veteran to the series or not. I feel that Dragon's Dogma can easily sit among games such as Dragon Age, Fable and even Skyrim to be one of this years biggest RPGs. I am interested to see more character skills as my character levels, and of course where the story is going, but it'll probably take me over 50 hours to get to that point and I'm in no hurry to get to the end. I'll also want to try out other vocations and see how they stack up.
How about Steam Deck?
One of the biggest questions among the gaming community will be Steam Deck, after all the portable machine has been a huge boost to handheld PC Gaming and seen a number of titles be playable on it. Unfortunately, while the game does run, it's not in a perfect state in pre-release and cannot maintain 15 fps in most situations (on lowest settings). Though Capcom has said that the release version should see further optimisations and we've seen in the past games get Steam Deck support post-release.
Dragon's Dogma 2 Gallery
To round out let's have a look at some screenshots from the game. All screens were taken at 4k, with max settings and Raytracing on. No motion blur, chromatic aberration or upscaling techniques were used and some were taken with the in-game photo mode. If you want to look at them in closer detail you can right click > view image.
