With the success of action RPGs such as Skyrim and Kingdoms of Amalur, could Dragon's Dogma beat the western competition?
Dragon's Dogma's story is simple. In the medieval/fantasy world of Gransys, a ferocious dragon invades a small fishing town known as Cassardis. Upon this attack, the dragon enjoyably devours a fisherman's heart. This fisherman (i.e. You) is then branded as an Arizen whose task is to seek out the dragon and defeat it to collect his heart.
Within your travels, you discover that as an Arizen, there are positives and negatives. The negative is that everyone wants your help with a task, whether it be deciphering a hidden text or defeating a band of hobgoblins. On the other hand, as an Arizen, you are given the ability to posses spiritual beings known as Pawns. Pawns are basically your party members and can make a big difference to the game as does the setting.
Speaking of Dogma's environment, the whole world is largely unique upon each zone. From wide open plains to cascading valleys, there is always something new to explore and the whole world is just surreal!
Like these varied areas, enemies are also spotted around the world depending on the weather, time and environmental conditions. But we'll get to that a bit later.
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| This map is just waiting to be explored! |
On another note, the music of Dragon's Dogma is on par with the likes of Final Fantasy or any epic RPG tale. From melodic and peaceful piano pieces, to heavy J-POP from the 80's, this game has something to give you that special adrenaline rush.
Incidentally, the voice acting in this game was surprisingly astounding. Each character has an original voice or style to how they talk which reflects on where the come from in the world. For instance, the French accented crusader, Ser Mercedes (Yes, that is her actual name.) talks with a strict slur that none of the civillians from Gransys' capital, Gran Soren speak of.
Graphics and Gameplay - 9/10
As I've already stated, Dragon's Dogma is a beautiful game. The game runs on Capcom's 'MT Framework' engine which isn't well known but for sure will be now! Capcom should be congratulated (For once!) for their brilliant display of the game's physics. For instance, if you are carrying a lantern and you walk into water, you conduct the 'soaked' condition.
Incidentally, there are several dis-enhancements in the game, which include the hypnotising sleep; the aggravating poison; the possessive curse; immobilising paralysis but also the damage dealing burn. However, all of these incurables can be cured with the use of herbs or a mage.
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| As you can see, Capcom really thought outside the RPG box! |
Speaking of which, there are initially three classes: the sword and shield Fighter, the ranged Strider and the arcane specialising Mage. From these classes comes three alternate classes that branch of the original three. Then there's the hybrids classes that branch of the alternate classes. These include the wicked love child of the sorcerer and ranger, 'Magick Archer'; the blend of ranger and warrior, 'Assasin' and my personal favourite, the sorcerer/warrior known as 'Mystic Knight'. Don't like the class your playing as, well don't worry as changing classes is like changing the channel on a remote, it's that easy!
Incidentally, your pawns use this 'vocation' system as well. However, your main customisable pawn is the only one that you can change their vocation and upgrade their skills. Speaking of which, to obtain alternate secondary pawns, you need to find the portals scattered around Gransys that send you to the Pawns' alternate universe. Here, you can find other players pawns and recruit them however to do so, you have to obtain rift points that are mostly accessible via sending your pawn to other players.
On the flip side, the gameplay of DD is smooth and fluid. From casting an endless supply of spells (You get six to use on your 'action bar' but there's over 50 spells!) to swinging your ridiculously large greatsword, the game never stutters or frame-rate drops to the biggest degree. Aside from the action, there is a big concept of weight and it's impact on your characters. For instance, if you are carrying a load of bones,gems, etc and are classified as very heavy, you use more stamina then others when moving and are less affected by weather conditions such as wind or rain.
Speaking of the stamina system, whether you're running up a hill, climbing up a hill, fighting enemies or clinging onto a giant griffin, you and you're pawns, stamina is used. Now, you're probably wondering, "What do you mean, clinging onto a giant griffin?". Well in Dragon's Dogma, players and their pawns can climb onto enemies to attack their weakspots and such. For instance, when I was faced with defeating a giant rock golem, I climbed onto his back, neck and other ligaments to target his several weak points for extra damage. This is a brilliant example of why Dragon's Dogma's combat system is unlike any action RPG I've played lately.
Speaking of fighting, the game has a vast range of bizarre and creative creatures to defeat. From the obvious, wolves and bandits, to the horny trolls that go crazy upon seeing a female; large ogres whose horns seem to relate to their brains; harpies that sing you to sleep; deadly hydras and the mythological chimeras, the game's environment is centred around Greek mythological creatures and medieval 'history'. Most of these enemies are all found at night if you don't have a light source which brings me to the next insanity of Dragon's Dogma, the day/night cycle.
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| More than one of these things in pitch black is sh*t scary! |
When it's daylight, you'll rarely see a giant or group of skeleton soldiers but upon nightime, every possible nightmare is released from the developer's mind to haunt and punish those that don't bring their lanterns to explore. In fact, in my first few hours when I discovered this, roughly three chimeras, an ogre, a bandit of thieves and an army of goblins (pathetic medieval cockroaches) startled me in a forest that I refuse to go back to!
Unfortunately though, the game at times suffers from a few glitches which occasionally can be funny and helpful but usually are unfair and make the game unplayable. For instance, when I was fighting a troll in the Ancient Quarry, I could barely see the enemy as the camera was stuttering from the enclosed environment.
Overall - 16.5/20
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| Just compare me to Alicia Keys? I dare you! |
To summarise my whole review, Dragon's Dogma is a game that pushes boundaries with it's game's physics, art style, combat and soundtrack yet is missing some of the outstanding quality that is on offer in other RPGs. Either way, this game is worth it for the eastern story, characters and lush variety of playability.
2. Charizard/Bowser from 'Pokemon'/'Super Mario Bros' series. Aside from PlayStation, whilst growing up I also owned a gameboy and eventually a gameboy colour. At the time, the only games that I owned on it was 'Pokemon Red' and a couple of Mario titles. When I played Pokemon, I remember being completely obsessed with Charmander and its evolutions. With Bowser, I really learned of his fire breathing attitude when I played the 'Super Smash Bros' series which with the addition of Charizard made the two most ideal and daring dragon like characters become one in my list. _KH3D.png)
