The Broadness of Dragon's Dogma

It seems to be the only thing I finish these days, but here is another demo analysis.  This time I spent not more than 45 minutes in Dragon's Dogma, but found a lot interesting about it; the game has a very familiar feel, but changes the formula to offer a new breadth of experience.

That familiar feeling I reference is that of a widely popular title, Dark Souls, only without the hair-pulling difficulty.  Anyone who has picked-up Dark Souls will find the presentation very similar, and makes for a quick transition into the world of Dragon's Dogma.

Speaking of difficulty, the demo was not tough in any way, shape, or form; a bit too easy, in fact.  With epic monsters of scale and ferocity, battles felt hollow, as all conflicts devolved into rabid button-smashing party.   And with the allies (known as “pawns”) the game gives the player on their journey, those NPC’s do their job well, making any fight very one-sided.

Movement is quick and fluid in this world.  I felt, while dashing from halls to vast chambers, climbing cliffs of rubble to new areas, ect. was well executed.  While running around, I can’t help but mention that the graphics are top-notch.  Fur and flesh, cloth and steel, rock and brick all are rendered in eye-pleasing fashion.

Now, if only sound followed the route the visuals took.  Physical actions taken leave nothing in the ears of the player, making it seem that the virtual warrior-avatar is more flying ghost than human.  NPC’s are also a very talkative bunch; they give you hints and notice of their actions towards you (healing, fighting, etc.) but talk over each other in such mass, that, especially when engaging an enemy, speech just becomes a mass of neglected gibberish.

I have to admit that I enjoyed the combat system the most, despite button mashing.  Quick attacks flayed my opponents with due haste.  If an ally grabs an enemy in a brawl, the game gives a bullet-time effect letting you know to skewer the poor sap in the clutches of your buddy.  Some of the bigger monsters require you to jump on them, crawling up to slay their menacing hides up-close-and-personal.

Overall, I had fun with Dragon's Dogma’s demo.  It could have been longer, and is in need of a tweak here and there, but this is a demo, and even the issues I had didn’t ruin the experience for me.   This game drops in May, and from what I can tell, it will be one worth picking-up.

This week is finals here at school, so I may not be around for a time.  Don’t worry – I’m nearing completion of the original Half Life, have some news about Activision, and will be needing your insight on a game being constructed in a few months.  Take care until that content comes rolling out.

• + Familiar style for players of Dark Souls.
• + Smart and effective NPC allies/pawns.
• + Smooth controls, whether travelling in the world or battling its denizens.
• + High-quality graphics.
• + Ease of getting into the game.
• - It is easy to delve into button-mashing, leaving no room for skills.
• A fix: Make for more aggressive enemies that will adapt to melee patterns.
• - Dialogue is all over itself.
• A fix: Include a code check to limit the chattiness of NPC’s if others are speaking.