"This is kind of like Shadows Over Mystara from the arcades.....ON STEROIDS & STEAMPUNK CYBERNETICS!"
Dragon’s Dogma First Impression
On average I’m not a fan of “Big Open World RPGs”. I remember trying to get into Two Worlds 2, Oblivion, and Amalur to not much success. I stuck with Amalur the longest because of its’ fast paced action combat but the boring “lore” behind the world and the mostly cardboard cut-out npcs didn’t do it any favors. Pile all this on top of the annoyance of breakable weapons & breakable armor and it ended up being “splits-Ville” for yours truly. I just couldn’t endure the monotony any longer. 
"Generic rpg is go! What a sec, there's a bit more to this one!"
Perhaps it’s ironic then that I’m enjoying DD: Dark Arisen so much! I mean yeah, it has many of the same faults of the games I mentioned. Aka, many side quests consist of collecting herbs and putting the smack down on mischievous goblins. About every creature you see it right out of the Dungeons & Dragons monster manuals and everything looks blandly medieval. So why am I not throwing my controller down in disgust?
First of all, the storyline really isn’t all that bad. Yes, I realize the critics have hammered DD’s plot with words such as “mediocre” and “unoriginal” but there’s only so much a writer can do with “dark fantasy”. While DD: DA isn’t quite up there with Dragon-age origins, Mass Effect, or Witcher 2 it’s leagues more interesting than anything Amalur or Oblivion could stir up. Having a dragon attack your village, cause havoc, and steal your still beating heart out of your chest while giving you an invitation to eventually meet him gives you a pretty epic reason to sally forth and to become a hero. The mystery of how you can even still be alive without a heart is something nerds will debate in heated discussion for infinitum! (What are you arisen, the tin-man from Oz?!)
"You will actually grow to care about certain NPCs in Dragon's Dogma."
Secondly, DD:DA has some good NPCs. Quina, Mercedes, Madeline, and even my first pawn Rook are faces I can remember. Each one came with their own unique mannerisms, quirks when speaking, and regional accents. Whereas I cannot remember a single NPC from Amalur or even Two Worlds 2 in DD: DA they do manage to make an impressionable impact. Also, if you like strong, capable, beguiling, and intelligent women in your rpgs, look no further! Mercedes and Madeline fill out those roles nicely.
Third, there are more interesting quests too. Some of them are even of a more personal nature. (Such as when your childhood friend Quina goes missing in the forest while trying to find herbs to heal your injuries) A highlight for me was chopping off a hydra’s head then escorting that very same hydra head with Mercedes’ armed garrison to the royal city of Gran Soren in order to impress the duke. Between places I had to protect the pack animal carrying my grisly prize from all manner of harpies, goblins, and bandits. It was challenging but not impossible. I also got my ass handed to me by a bunch of saurians (lizard folk) within the local well of my neighborhood. Victorious or not, I was having a lot of fun either way. Even collecting a certain type of flower along the sea shore at night-fall became a more grandiose adventure than I expected it to be. 
"I'm gonna take you for a ride!!! No,not THAT SONG again! For the love of all things holy,make it stop!"
Of course the best parts of Dragon’s Dogma are the fighting and exploration. You can easily climb cliff faces if you know where to look and it’s a guilty pleasure to run along the roof-tops of the city you are visiting. Most importantly, you can also scale up the sides of colossal monsters during a fight, hacking away at them as you do so! Needless to say, I’ve had a lot of fun with my strider so far. Whether I’m shooting arrows down at enemies from a nice elevated vantage point or wading into bandits with my lighting fast twin daggers it certainly hasn’t been a dull moment.
"Character customization both for your hero & personal pawn is meaty and robust. It's the best character generator I've used in quite awhile!"
Pawns are great allies in battle and their mysterious origin as a inter-dimensional dwelling legion for “The chosen one” is intriguing. Even the people pf Gransys describe pawns as “not quite human” so in many ways they’re seen as a lesser slave race. My only problem with pawns is capcom could have explored them better. It would be an interesting mechanic to be able to have romantic and even sexual relationships with your pawns but this is never truly given as an option. (Then again, being gamers can create children pawns too, perhaps some things are better left to the imagination!) Still, I kind of wish the story would go into the darker and seedier aspects of pawns. Aka, pawns sold out as inexpensive labor, pawns used as prostitutes, and pawns killed just for sport . A whole epic sub plot could have been fighting for pawn civil-rights and getting humans to acknowledge pawns as their equals. However, I digress. That is more along the lines of what Bioware or CD projekt red would do. By contrast, capcom has never truly excelled at deep thoughtful narrative. (Though to their credit, they did a rather amiable job with DD’s narrative all the same.)
When you top all this off with emotionally stirring musical scores, day & night cycles, and a beautiful country side, the immersion factor honestly is all encompassing.
So far the only qualm I have is the affinity system. It’s capcom’s random shot gun-blast way of choosing a romantic love interest for your main character. I’ve read horror stories about gamers romancing one NPC in particular only to end up with someone else entirely. While this isn’t a game breaker per se, it can be a downer when all your hard work of wooing a particular lad or lass ends up being for naught.
Overall, I do not want to say DD:DA is “better” than the other games I mentioned. However, it is the open world rpg I’m clicking with the most. Though not perfect, it’s definitely a steal at 29.99! Highly recommended!
I bought this for my brother for his birthday. I think he liked it. After your review I sort of want to play it now!
I appreciate games that have good character generators. That's really important to me for creating immersion, being able to customize my avatar.
The character generator is AWESOME,Matt! Matter of fact, the whole game is pretty friggin awesome. I don't have many complaints thus far.
I rented the original version and thought is was cool but it was still like $50 so I held off. But a beefed version for 30 bucks is a buy I may have to consider in the near future.
I'm just afraid this game will steal a huge chunk of my life. lol. Already feel the addiction seeping in.
But yeah the 29.99 price point on amazon certainly doesn't hurt either.
I really liked Monster Hunter and this was made by the same team. DD seems to take many elements from MH and expand them futher. And MH didn't even have a story, so even if I find DD's story to be "mediocre" I'm sure I'll be perfectly fine with the gameplay!
If you love Monster-hunter then yeah, you will love this,Kev! Fights against the larger beasts get epic and very challenging. (Without being ridiculously unfair)
The character customization sounds neat. I wonder if I could make characters I would like?
I'm pretty sure you would be able to,Cary! I think there's even additional items you find in the world that can increase the already robust customization options.
I think the next game I play with custom charecter maker, I am going to make a bald head chick with a scwol on her face.
A female version of Red from "That 70's show"? lol.
I'm not one for open world RPGs either but you do make it sound pretty interesting. My wife rented this when it first came out but didn't like it much. But maybe if we find Dark Arisen for cheap enough, we could give it another go.
I feel you. On average I like memorable characters and good narrative in my rpgs. Sadly many of the more modern open world rpgs do not have those attributes. (Aka, storyline is sacrificed for a HUGE roaming area.) Clicking with Dragon's Dogma was simply a wonderful fluke in my case. lol. Still, it does do some things much better than other open world rpgs.
Yeah, people complain about JRPGs being linear but I like that about JRPGs. And I'd rather have a well-defined, premade character to play as than one I make myself. Never really been a fan of that in Western RPGs.
I've always likes Western rpgs but my favorites were the ones with memorable characters and interesting NPCs. Bioware was really great at whe whole "east meets west approach" to rpg design. Also, The Ultima games were very character driven too.
But yeah, I love my Jrpgs too. I don't think anything can replace my nostalgic love for games like Persona 4,Persona 3 Fes, Chrono Trigger, FF 6, Nier, and ShadowHearts covenant. Good times, man!
At this point I feel confident in saying that Ultima 7 still has the best open world in an RPG ever crafted, or at least the most carefully crafted, the most ambitious. Tons of secrets, no real fetch quests, interesting (non combat) encounters, every NPC has unique dialog, NPCs perform jobs, story is strong, most interactive stuff, colorful, the least boring. Next would be Fallout New Vegas, and Dragon's Dogma. Dragon's Dogmas world doesn't have the depth of the other two, but it's just a joy to travel through and behold. They really nailed the art style and graphics. There are tons of cool monsters to fight, the locations feel believable, you have to travel instead of teleporting everywhere, dungeons are appropriately atmospheric, nights are the best I can remember in a RPG; it seems like a very old school CRPG thing to do, having actually dark nights where a lantern is necessary. I enjoy RPGs as simulation type games, so stuff like that is always a nice touch.
It's difficult to beat my nostalgia for the original Ultima games and final fantasy 4 & 6,Chris. Hell, even Chrono-trigger can box toe to toe with the most grandiose rpgs today. That and I was more in love with Fallout 1 & 2 than I was with Fallout 3. (Seriously,not trying to be a hipster. There's just something about Bethesda games I don't personally click with.)
But yeah I was hesitant going into DD. I haven't played an open world rpg I liked since Divinity II Dragonknight saga and that was awhile ago. I'm glad I like it so much and I enjoy it for many of the same reasons you mentioned. (Such as a night cycle and needing to use lanterns to see in the dark)
Capcom also seemed good at making mechanics that are just complex and realistic enough but not overly so to the point they're no longer fun. For example I hated how even magical powerful gear broke so easily in Amalur. Delaying your current quest just to get stuff fixed isn't exactly what I would call "fun". The game also was kind of haphazard concerning where you could find repair kits.
I still have yet to play this game. It looks great in all aspects, I just keep passing it over though for some reason.
There's a lot of "Dark Souls" in Dragon's Dogma, Chris! The Bitterback isle expansion is especially that way. However,even in the main game there are moments when night falls & suddenly your overwhelmed by zombies or more powerful monsters. I'd say for 29.99 you'd get your money's worth. As a cautionary word of advice, I would not pick up this game if your being productive right now. This is the type of rpg that will easily turn you into a couch potato. 
Right now my hands are full with The Last of Us and the Uncharted series (WHY did I ever pass up on the Uncharted games!? They're so good!!) so my gaming plate is full. And productivity isn't a problem, I normally have 3-day weekends and my gaming slots are usually after Cooper falls asleep or before I leave for work!
3-day weekend? Hellz yeah! In that case, maybe check it out after your naughty dog fix? If your GF/Spouse sticked around during your Dark Souls binge your marriage should be able to endure Dragon's Dogma. lol. Er, unless your wife is a hair's width from snapping and killing you. Just kidding,bro. lol. 
I tried playing this game. Unfortunately, I couldn't make a hot female so it totally ruined it for me. lol
For realz? My pawn is quite attractive but her voice is hillarious. lol.
Yeah. Everytime I tried, it came out fugly. I don't know why lol.
Dragon's Dogma or Dragon Age: Origins (again)? 
Dragonage origins: Better story & good socializing sim elements.
Dragon's Dogma: Great combat,fun exploration,and a so so story. (Though both the narrative and main NPCs are at least memorable)
My son and I have both been very curious about this game. He likes this sort a lot. I'm sure we will take it on pretty soon. Thanks for all the good info about it here.
No prob,Celt! If you both like open world rpgs I can highly recommend this one! For 29.99 you're certainly getting a helluva lot to do!
Yet another Capcom game that makes a D&D game that is not a D&D game in nature. Originally I was put off by DD with it's on disc DLC, does this game have the same issue? If not I perhaps could be pursuaded in trying this out. I did like the King of Dragons from back in the day.
I'm glad to hear you like Dragon's Dogma. It's got a ton of content for $30 and it also encourages multiple playthroughs. Have fun! I'm on my third playthough myself...
The romance subplot can be annoying... lol I've been trying to get my character to hook up with Mercedes since the beginning, but I got Madeline and another character I won't name for spoiler reasons. On my third playthrough I'm actually going to start paying attention to which NPCs like my character. I might have to get a little rough with some people... lol