You start the game as a humble fisherman living in a quite peaceful fishing village going about your daily routine. Just as you catch the eye of a lady a giant dragon appears on the horizon and attacks the village. Being the hero that you are, or maybe just to impress the girl, you start to defend your village against the dragon. This fight doesn,t end well for you…..The dragon rips out your heart and eats it but it doesn’t kill you. After the dragon buggers off you awake in the girls house whose eye you caught earlier and soon enough you are on your way in this mean open world of Gransys to take on epic quests and to fulfill your destiny as the Arisen.
Quests in Dragon’s Dogma truly are epic and this game isn’t easy. You need to start each quest by resting in an inn because you want to be starting out on your journey first thing in the morning. The reason for this is because you don’t want to be caught out at night too far from a town in this game. Night time is a very scary and dangerous part of the day in this game as it becomes very dark, monsters multiply, its hard to see big drops like cliffs and you have to find the way with only your lamp to guide you. Quests can be quite a lengthy affair also you might have to attempt a quest a couple of times in order to complete it especially if you are faced with an enemy that is too strong for you. Luckily though if you get stuck on one quest there are plenty more for you to choose from to keep you busy until you become strong enough to attempt a harder one.
Gameplay is very good in this game apart from one small problem. There isn’t a lock on system included meaning you can be swiping away at thin air every so often missing your target. This takes very little away from this game as it has some of the best fighting mechanics included in an action rpg i have ever played. There is so much variety to the combat you very rarely get tired of switching up classes and approaching enemies in different ways to try take them down. One of the new inclusions into combat here is the ability to grab onto enemies to either hold them for a team-mate to hit, throw off cliffs if you are strong enough or climb larger enemies to hit weak points. How good you are at doing each of these depends on which class you re playing at the time. For example a warrior is good at holding down enemies while an assassin character cn climb and hold onto enemies for longer to hit their weak points. This variety in fights is really refreshing and i found myself approaching enemies in different ways to find out the best way to deal with them.
You can’t play this game online with other people but you can use other people’s “Pawns” which is another great part of this game. The Arisen(you) has the ability to hire up to two Pawns into their party to accompany the on their quest from a place called The Rift. These Pawns are created by other people and its up to you who you want to choose to bring with you on your journey. The Pawns A.I is quite impressive also and will help you out a lot time and time again. When the Pawn has done its job you can change it out of your team for another stronger or different class Pawn and send message back to the owner of your old Pawn long with a gift. You also get to create another Pawn at the start of the game who will always be with you but other Dragon’s Dogma players can hire them and every so often when you rest at an inn your Pawn will give you the gifts they have been given from other players in The Rift.
There are a few problems with this game the main one being the dialogue. I can guarantee the word “aught” will give you nightmares after playing this game. Every one talks in an old english type of way and there ain’t aught good about it! The story Isn’t the most gripping after the first few hours and it is hard to care about characters in the plot because of the way they talk. The dialogue really annoyed me in this game. The lack of lock on system is quite annoying too. The towns and cities you visit aren’t really that full of life but the great outdoors outside of towns more than make up for this as they are full of life be it bandits, griffins, ogres or goblins.
Dragon’s Dogma is quite a good game for any rpg fans. Anyone looking for a break from Skyrim will feel right at home here. The ony thing really wrong with this game is the dialogue and maybe if the word aught had been left out the game would have done better. The combat is by far the best i have played in an action rpg and the quests really give you a great sense of satisfaction once you complete one. If you’re a fantasy action rpg fan this game is for you and I think you will be quite satisfied with what is on offer here.
8.5/10
Written by Blain O Neill
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