Dragon's Dogma

Just to give you a point of reference for this review I am an avid RPG player. Most recently I have clocked around 300 hrs on Skyrim and Kingdoms of Amalur combined. I am also 30+ hours into the game.

PREMISE
Dragons Dogma (DD for short) is a 3rd person view, huge open world fantasy RPG which focuses on action. It is designed by the japanese developer Capcom but has the look and feel of a western RPG. The story is that you have been resurrected after a dragon came and attacked your village and killed you in the process with you now out looking for some payback.

GAMEPLAY
This game is not easy. Its not for the casual player either. It took me a while to get used to the fiddly menu system and figure out everything I wanted to do. Also it does not stop you from biting off more than you can chew and in addition does not tell you when you have.
Its very easy to wander into enemies that are far too powerful for you and get destroyed in the process, especially in the early stages of the game.
On the other hand the game is huge. From initial estimations the map is almost as big as skyrim but with more restrictions for example you cant climb every mountain. There are 100s of hours of gameplay. This includes a New Game+ feature that allows you to replay the game with your character +all your equipment.
The one downside in my opinion is that there is only 1 save slot. You cannot make multiple saves of different characters which I think is a big detriment to the game.

MULTIPLAYER BY PROXY
Sorry no multiplayer. I know this will disappoint a lot of you and this game cries out for it. Instead DD has a "pawn system". Basically you can have a maximum of 3 companions. 1 of them is your own whom you can customise and will level up with you. The other 2 can be "borrowed" from other players (if you are online) or from the game itself who will provide a selection for you to choose from. These extra 2 pawns will not level with you, therefore forcing you to periodically change them in for higher level pawns as you level up.

STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD?
The main differences between this game and other open world RPGs are -
1. The pawn system (as mentioned above).
2. The day/night cycle. Night time in DD does not just mean a dark blue sky as you wander around. Night time in DD is DARK. You literally cant see a thing beyond your lantern light. In addition there are more creatures during the night so you have to be prepared for any long trip your planning out into the wilderness.
3. Limited fast travel. Fast travel is not available from the start and when it does become available costs a lot of money, not to mention is still limited. This forces you to walk everywhere and gives a real sense of danger when going on a quest, especially with the day/night cycle taken into consideration.
4. The combat system. Not only is the combat very satisfying but the main selling point is the ability to climb up on larger monsters (like Shadow of the Colossus). This makes a HUGE difference to boss fights and gives an added dynamic instead of just hacking away at the heels of big monsters like every other game.
With creatures like dragons and griffons, what can end up happening is they start to fly up in the sky with you still hanging on! Havent had this much fun for a long time!

GRAPHICS & SOUND
A lot of people compare this games visuals to the Souls games. Yes it does have that gritty "real world" look of the Souls games. The environments are very nice with vast views on a lot of the world when you are on your travels. The character models could do with a bit more work as they do look a bit "strange" most of the time.
Some may be annoyed by the large black bars on the top and bottom of the screen (widescreen) which you cant get rid off (even on a normal widescreen tv).
The animation is generally good but can suffer from some slowdown and choppiness when there is a lot going on screen.

CONCLUSION
For me it was a bit difficult to get into at the start. Once I did though, I found it very rewarding. It's a punishing game at times and requires a lot of preplanning. But if you're into this type of game then it is going to give you 10s maybe even 100s of hours of enjoyment. Yes the user interface is not easy to use in the beginning and the NPCs are a bit bland, the game itself while being a bit rough round the edges, is definitely worth playing. It's a mix of Dark Souls, Skyrim, Monster Hunter and Shadow of the Colossus all rolled into one huge game (with a bit of rough edges). If this is your genre then go buy this game.

TIP - Save often!

(This is a copy of my Xbox 360 review. The game is identical on both platforms however the PS3 is reported to have more framerate issues whereas the 360 lacks the v-sync of the PS3 version, meaning screen tearing can occur).

This game seems to have been misunderstood and unfortunately underrated by a number of gaming journalists. It's very hard to explain because it's actually a pretty unique game, but you can think of it like Dark Souls meets Skyrim if you want a really lazy way of summing it up. That doesn't do it justice at all, because here we have people that have worked on games such as Resident Evil, Devil May Cry and Breath of Fire all coming together to deliver an incredibly atmospheric and compelling action RPG.

The story follows your character, who shortly after being created by you - with an excellent character customisation system - has his or her village attacked by an enormous dragon. After an ill-fated attempt to fight it, your heart is ripped out and eaten by the colossal dragon. Yet, somehow, you're still alive, albeit with a huge scar on your chest like Sagat. You can also hear the voice of the dragon in your head, urging you to track it down if you want your heart back. Then it's down to you to make your way in the world and find him, though your village is still reeling from the attack and many of the side quests are based around this, rather than some guy just wanting 20 mushrooms because he has in inexplicable craving for fungus all of a sudden.

Shortly after this, you're introduced to one of the game's most interesting systems; the ability to design pawns - AI warriors who you can programme in fundamental ways to be the most useful sidekick for you. The really interesting thing is that other players of the game can rent your pawn off you. You keep your pawn, but a copy appears in the other players game and goes around helping them. Everything it learns, like how to defeat certain enemies and how to solve certain quests, will be remembered and when the player returns your pawn, it will be able to help you out with all its new info. And of course, you can also rent other peoples' pawns off them. Renting them uses Rift Crystals, an item that is commonly given out in game for completing quests, though pawns of people on your Friend List are free.

There's an interesting and varied character skill system, made all the more fun and addictive by the fact that the real-time combat is made by people who worked on Devil May Cry. It's not quite as exuberant as those games, but you can see the understanding and professionalism of those guys at work in this game's combat. Really, if you like games where you explore, go on an adventure, never know what's around the next corner and can expect a firm challenge from any enemies you meet (the larger ones can be climbed up, like in Shadow of the Colossus), and all in an open world with tons of secrets and hidden areas, you will love this game.

It seems like RPG games always tend to follow the same formula these days and never strive to try anything new or creative - this is where Dragon's Dogma is different.

This game keeps all the things we love whilst keeping out some of the more tedious and conventional features that all other RPG's keep in for no reason other than to adhere to the formula. Anyway, enough about that, what is the game actually like?

This is a game which others both amazing gameplay and an amazing experience. Picture this: You're walking through a forest late at night, your lantern is low on oil, one of your companions was felled by an enemy and the rest of your party is low on health and supplies. You're scurrying towards the capital city and then one of your companions notices a giant footprint on the ground, so naturally you stop. You then hear a slow thumping in the distance, slowly getting louder and faster, then suddenly a giant chimera pounces on you and you have to decide whether to stay and fight it or run for your lives - this is the kinda thing that happens on a regular basis in this game, and it's just as epic every time.

The fighting system is equally as amazing. You have a choice from 9 different vocations, all of which completely change the way you fight. What's even better is that you can change to any vocation at any time, without a penalty. There are then hundreds of skills you can learn all of which are unique and have amazing animations to match. Simple fights can be resolved by picking up the enemy when he's staggered and then throwing him off a cliff, or more advanced fights may resort to you climbing up a Cyclops and gouging his eye out with a dagger so he's unable to fight with coordination.

The story of this game is engaging with both a dynamic questing feature and many plot twists. You meet a load of characters all of which have stellar voice acting, and even though your character is unable to speak themselves (Nope, don't expect a speech tree option, similar to Bioware games), you feel like you're actually there and having a role in the story.

Then one final major aspect of this game is the difficulty. In a standard RPG, if a character says "Don't go in that cave", what's the first thing you do? If they say it in this game, they mean it. The constant danger keeps you on your feet and is thrilling. I remember when I first encountered a dragon in the wild, I ran in with bloodthirst and grabbed onto it's tail, then a few moments later it flew into the air and I got propelled into the air, and smashed against the ground, dying from the damage. I then went in for round two, attacking its legs, it resorted to picking me up and smashing me into a rock, yet again killing me. I guess I need to wait until I'm more powerful and have a strategy going before I can actually defeat it.

I could go on about this game for days, and still find new things to talk about. Every time I play it, I find new areas of the world or some new amazing enemy to slay, which constantly keeps my attention. This game has driven my enthusiasm so much to the point where I'm playing through the entire thing and uploading it to YouTube - simply to share the experience with others.

Skyrim kept my attention for 5 hours.
This game still has my attention after 50 hours.
I highly recommend it.

-Evanz111