Dragon's Dogma

It's a ripoff of Oblivion!

Is it really that niche? If anything it looks like it's trying to garner mainstream appeal.

I mean, at the end of the day, I'll most likely still be picking it up. But some jaded part of me will be whispering "I told you soooo" if the game turns out to be mediocre.

To be fair, Oblivion does seem to be one of its inspirations.

And it's niche by default because it's sorta like Dark Souls, sorta like Monster Hunter, both niche games.

edited 11th Apr '12 9:21:58 PM by Firebert

That's what got me interested in it in the first place, at least. The only thing that keeping it from preemptively being categorized as my favorite game ever is the lack of multiplayer.

Eh, it's got that Dark Souls multiplayer thing, but I get what you mean.

Demo's out next week.

Let's see if it lives up to my anticipation.

I watched a bit of the IGN playthrough. The one thing that bugged me was the archaic way that the characters were speaking, mostly when they said "There's aught here!" I just KNOW that until I learn better I'll either think that they mean there's nothing there or that there's something there. It's probably the second one.

I've been watching gameplay footage and the only thing that bugs me is the running animation(it just seems weird). Other than that it seems pretty amazing.

This looks exactly like the type of game I've been asking "why doesn't anybody make it??"

The demo's been up on XBL for a while, and just came up on PSN not too long ago. You get to try out two quests as well as make a character that you can import into the full game. It's a little under 1.7 gigs.

I'll be posting my thoughts on it once... the download is actually done. I'm obviously not expecting too much in terms of scope, but I do hope I can at least step outside in the middle of the night and get my ass handed to me.

WHO LET THE DOGS OUT?

So this is like Two Worlds?

Having played the demo, I have to say it's pretty awesome. I definitely recommend at least turning off Pawn Subtitles, though, since they're like an annoying chat window that takes up the left of the screen.

I would like a better idea of how character growth works, though.

Fuckin' Kotaku.

More like Dark Souls / Monster Hunter in the style of Oblivion.

edited 24th Apr '12 2:47:18 PM by Firebert

Skyrim is not the only TES game ever made, Bethesda's been making open-world RPG's for almost 20 years now, so it isn't too farfetched to say Dragon's Dogma is influenced by Oblivion.Hideaki Itsuno (Lead Designer of DD), stated in an interview that Oblivion was one of his biggest influences for the game, along with Fable and Dragon Quest.But it's not like they have a choice, what other open-world high fantasy RPG's do you know besides TES that have made it to the mainstream?It's a very slim market, which is why I'm excited about Dragon's Dogma.You just can't have too many open-world RPG's.A lot of the previewers have good things to say about it, so it looks like we'll be getting another AAA open-world RPG.Too bad my internet's too crappy to download the demo. :(

edited 24th Apr '12 3:19:28 PM by Corakus

Corakus, don't worry, nobody really listens to Kotaku anymore.

I said Two Worlds because of the supposed So Bad It's Good aspects that Kotaku mentions. Anyways I stopped taking Kotaku seriously since the Mass Effect ending debacle.

Seems like a good game. Tight controls so that is nice. Turning off the cinematographic camera is ESSENTIAL to good gameplay.

Shutting up your pawns is a good idea too. Demo is WAY too short though for anyone to get a good impression of the game other than "Jump on monster and hack away."

I hope combat becomes more complicated than that.

I was originally going to gripe that there was no dodge button, and that I found it strange that a game like this didn't have one.

Then I found it. Now my only gripe is that the demo is sinfully short.

Cinematic camera is annoying, and I'm glad you can turn it off, but without it I never would have known that my pawn (a buff midget with an attitude named Thrillho) could launch me up to the griffin in the second quest.

edited 24th Apr '12 4:56:54 PM by MrDolomite

It doesn't really strike me as a "Two Worlds" type deal; the combat is too good and the more annoying elements can be turned off. I can't wait to see how character growth goes.

I also really like how you can tweak your character's body type. I'm really hoping they put in some clothes from other Capcom games, as I'd love to get Dante's coat...

Tried the demo, here's my impression:

I like the gameplay, I'm gonna need some getting used to but I love the concept so far. I love how the bow works, it's always a pain to move a bow while pressing the trigger, but that won't be a problem.

The demo is verily choke full with action, and while there was a lot of combat the fights weren't particularly long or difficult. The AI is so diligent in fact that I barely fought in some cases, but there was so many minions that we all got a piece of the action.

The two boss fight now: neither the chimera nor the griffin were too dangerous to me, which was a let down since I'm a fan of both Monster Hunter Tri and Demon/Dark Souls. I noticed I could casually smash the buttons while reading the several subtitles popping out in addition to the advice window. One could argue that the first "boss" in both Monster Hunter Tri and Demon/Dark Souls are easy, and the challenge lay latter.

I definitely see some potential in this game.

My first fight with the Griffin went rather quickly, so I decided to try some different things.

Super Hardcore Protip: Don't mount the damn thing unless you're confident you can bring it down before your stamina wears. Falling hurts.

Welp, tried the demo.

I'm sold.

By the way, will this game have a plot? I want to know to see if I should care about it and look forward to a PC port.

Most games these days do have plot. This is 2012, you know. We've moved beyond the simplicity of the Pac-Man narrative structure.

In all seriousness, though, yes, I'm pretty sure it does. All of that dialogue and stuff about being the Arisen probably isn't just flavor text.

edited 24th Apr '12 9:21:02 PM by CorrTerek