Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen
Dragon's Dogma slid below my radar when it came out - just not quite "big" enough. And coming back and playing it now, I can see why. It isn't bad, but it's not quite good in the field of action-RPGs either. For me, at least, there's a pervading sense of almost-good throughout, as if it really could have been a first-tier title with some more money and polish.
It plays like... perhaps the Witcher games - real time combat with light/heavy attacks and modifiers (ctrl+clicks give you special abilities with primary weapon, alt+ gives them with secondary/shield). And you have a group of up to three AI companions - one you can set primary/secondary abilities for and two others you can recruit from those other players have created. It's interesting that these AI "pawns" are woven into the lore of the setting as summonable not-quite-humans drawn to aid the "arisen."
The silent protagonist feels like a throwback these days - even conversational options are almost exclusively limited to "accept" or "not now." The CG cut scenes are... not terrible, but they lack the polish I would expect from major games. There is gear to collect and there are ways to upgrade them. There's a fast travel system that apparently didn't exist in the original version of the game, which is a blessing compared to running everywhere all the time. But most of what makes up the game is "fine" without really being remarkable.
The story strikes me as pretty weak. Other than main quest prompts, I don't see a whole lot of reason to go after the dragon that more-or-less makes your character immortal at the beginning. Doubly-so when the Duke turns out to be a jerk (tormented, as it turns out, but still a jerk). The "love interest" is pretty forced in my experience. And yet, I am curious to see if there's any further explanation of this dragon-arisen cycle.
And... the story seems to be going on after the big battle with the dragon, which is a bit interesting in itself. And the dragon fight? Perhaps the most "epic" such encounter in a game. Fighting Deathwing over two encounters both on and in front of him was a pretty big deal. Fighting Grigori involves running, fighting, running out of ruins to cross a wall and climb a tower to shoot him, climbing on him, and not getting swallowed... Oh, then there's a multi-phase encounter that's the "real" fight with him. It's quite the long battle, feeling suitable for a dragon. It's also the fight time I used more than one or two healing items.
I doubt there will be any further surprises that blow me away, and I might shelf the game to play Torment:ToN soon, but it's not a bad game.
It plays like... perhaps the Witcher games - real time combat with light/heavy attacks and modifiers (ctrl+clicks give you special abilities with primary weapon, alt+ gives them with secondary/shield). And you have a group of up to three AI companions - one you can set primary/secondary abilities for and two others you can recruit from those other players have created. It's interesting that these AI "pawns" are woven into the lore of the setting as summonable not-quite-humans drawn to aid the "arisen."
The silent protagonist feels like a throwback these days - even conversational options are almost exclusively limited to "accept" or "not now." The CG cut scenes are... not terrible, but they lack the polish I would expect from major games. There is gear to collect and there are ways to upgrade them. There's a fast travel system that apparently didn't exist in the original version of the game, which is a blessing compared to running everywhere all the time. But most of what makes up the game is "fine" without really being remarkable.
The story strikes me as pretty weak. Other than main quest prompts, I don't see a whole lot of reason to go after the dragon that more-or-less makes your character immortal at the beginning. Doubly-so when the Duke turns out to be a jerk (tormented, as it turns out, but still a jerk). The "love interest" is pretty forced in my experience. And yet, I am curious to see if there's any further explanation of this dragon-arisen cycle.
And... the story seems to be going on after the big battle with the dragon, which is a bit interesting in itself. And the dragon fight? Perhaps the most "epic" such encounter in a game. Fighting Deathwing over two encounters both on and in front of him was a pretty big deal. Fighting Grigori involves running, fighting, running out of ruins to cross a wall and climb a tower to shoot him, climbing on him, and not getting swallowed... Oh, then there's a multi-phase encounter that's the "real" fight with him. It's quite the long battle, feeling suitable for a dragon. It's also the fight time I used more than one or two healing items.
I doubt there will be any further surprises that blow me away, and I might shelf the game to play Torment:ToN soon, but it's not a bad game.
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