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Dragon's Dogma
One of the most
interesting things about Capcom’s Dragon’s Dogma is trying to
classify the genre. While it is indeed a Fantasy RPG, the game takes
elements from many other genres including survival-horror,
action-adventure, and even some elements of an MMO. Normally when a
game attempts to mash and blend together different genres it comes
across as a poorly put together mess, but surprisingly, Capcom pulled it
off. Even more surprising is the fact that Dragon’s Dogma is
Capcom’s first attempt at a “Western” RPG.
The fantasy RPG elements are indeed the most dominant
in the way a person creates a custom character, kills things, levels up,
gets new abilities, and slowly grows stronger and stronger. Unlike a
lot of recent open-world RPG’s Dragon’s Dogma does not feature a
sliding level scale. This means that, while you can go anywhere in the
game, there are dangerous areas and enemies that will easily crush a
weak player. This means that while a player could go chasing after a
wyrm early in the game, even that mini-dragon is most likely going to
devastate you in one blow. I found that even into level 30 and 40 some
of the boss fights were still extremely tough and avoidance was always
my best bet.
The reason I mentioned the elements of an MMO is
because while you create a main player you also create a ‘Pawn’ early in
the game. This ‘Pawn’ is a second character of yours who levels up and
is geared just like your own character. The only difference between the
pawn and your character is that the pawn is controlled by the game’s
AI. You can recruit other pawns temporarily, from either other players
or from pre-made NPCs the game provides. The reason this fits the MMO
aspect is that certain fights will be harder without the right
composition. The many classes in the game all have different
abilities, some will be the classic MMO tank with features that taunt
enemies and get their attention while trying to block and shield, others
will heal the party and keep them standing, and others will focus on
doing large amounts of damage to distracted targets. This classic four
man party of tank, healer, and two DPS (damage per second) causes the
party to play very similar to an MMO.
The story is rather nice and has some key moments
that will indeed lead to tough choices. One choice early in the game
had me stop and think for quite some time trying to figure out what to
do. These moments however are rare and other than that the story is a
rather basic story. It isn’t boring to say the least, just that the
story isn’t anything super fancy. A dragon shows up, you become the
Chosen One to stop him, you have to do lots of things to help people and
get stronger, and then you go beat up the Dragon. There are a lot of
twist and turns, but I’ll avoid those for people who don’t want the
story ruined. In general the story is good, but nothing mind-boggling
or noteworthy.
Unlike the story, however, the combat is amazing.
Each class plays and feels different, all serving useful and fun. Some
classes tend to be very hack-and-slash based, others are more ranged,
some prefer hit and runs, and one even enjoys climbing all over a target
similar to Shadows of the Colossus. Boss fights especially feel
like works of beauty and truly feel threatening. Even mid-way through
the game there were certain creatures that would cause me to turn and
run and others that would get me fully focused as I worked hard to bring
them down. The game’s difficulty can be rather intense and certain
fights will be very difficult and require skilled play or higher
levels. The majority of boss creatures are fantasy beasts and look
amazing and include things like Cyclops, Ogres, Wyverns, Chimeras,
Hydras, Griffins, and more. While I’ve not fought one yet, I’ve heard
there is a Medusa as well. Each one feels like a different monster with
different tactics to bring them down. One might shoot a Cyclops in the
eye, climb on him and carve out his skull, or aim at the legs to bring
it down. A griffin will attempt to use its flight against you to swoop
down and hit you hard and the party might need to weigh it down, shoot
the wings, or be ready to fire a lot of magic. Chimeras with their
goat, snake, and lion head will consist of the party trying to take it
down part by part since each one is a deadly monster all on its own. I
tended to kill the snake head, jump on the goat and murder it, then
focus on the lion, though that was only my tactic. All in all each
boss is different, complex, challenging, and requires the party to work
together, something the AI actually successfully does most the time.
I’ve had a griffin start to fly and my fighter offer to give me a boost,
so I ran to him and he sprung boarded me up so I could grab the
griffin. This teamwork and intelligence works nicely and is actually
quite surprising to see from AI.
While the game is not fully multi-player, the pawn
sharing system does add some online characteristics since players can
rent, rate, and use your pawns. Leaderboards currently tell some of the
top rated pawns, highest level pawns, and more. Because other players
can find your pawns wandering around in their world the looks of your
pawn and their combat abilities are important. Especially since the
money people pay to rent your pawn will come back to you. This social
feature is rather interesting and implemented nicely so that if a player
wants to use it they can, but if not it is simple to buy a regular
computer created pawn. I remembered turning on the game and seeing how
much people were paying to use my pawn and feeling quite good about
myself, so it’s a fun little ego boost to for those that are proud of
their characters.
The game does have a few flaws however. The lack of
a quick travel system and the dangerousness of traveling at night can
make moving around the world for quest deadly and time consuming. With
such a large world and no quick travel a lot of the game is spent
running from one spot to the other. Overtime a player will learn
shortcuts, secret routes, and other faster methods, but it can become a
pain early on trying to run all over. Similar to the lack of fast
travel is the lack of a wait option. The only way to past time is
sleeping at an inn to make it “morning” or “night”. While this can be
useful, travel at night is very deadly and there were a few times I was
hunkered down hiding in a sealed up castle ruin debating between
fighting my way to the nearest town or just waiting and hoping nothing
found me. This is actually only a partial complaint. On one hand it
made each arrival at a town safely cause a little feeling of relief and
added for some intense moments in game, but on other hands waiting was
slow and it would force a player to be bored or go into a very difficult
area with little light to see things coming to kill you.
Overall, the game has a few minor flaws, but these
flaws are outweighed by the amazing gameplay and intense moments the
game provides. I would recommend this game to anyone who wants a fun,
yet challenging and difficult game. The game’s difficulty and steep
learning curve for traveling might turn off the more casual gamer
however. Those who love mythology and have always wanted to fight
some powerful mythical creatures and those who player Dungeons and
Dragons and enjoyed it will find quite the gem in Dragon’s Dogma.
-Michael Riling
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