Dragon's Dogma

"Remarkably bland."

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Platform(s): Xbox 360, PS3 [previewed]
Genre: RPG
Release Date: May 25, 2012 (EU)

 

 

It’s been a while since Capcom rang a bell amidst RPG fans. Many of its recent titles have been focused towards a more fighting crowd and that’s fine; that’s where Capcom excels. However, Dragon’s Dogma is the publisher’s pitch towards modern roleplaying. It has a distinct grim side reminiscent of gloomy powerhouse Demon’s/Dark Souls, but don’t be fooled. What lies underneath this well-constructed roleplaying game with a good amount of variety is actually remarkably bland.

 

 

As mentioned, kudos must go out towards the presentation of the game. Though it has several laughable character customization options, it also displays its ambience as its strongest element. The desaturated environments of caves and murky dungeons get offset perfectly with local lighting and vibrant effects to appeal to both color spectrums. An orchestrated background soundtrack follows the game’s pace well and character voices aren’t totally terrible either. All locales also strike quite the grand vibe, certainly its lush outside fields that stretch far into the horizon. Yes, Dragon’s Dogma is a pretty game at its core.

However, a smudge on this grandeur will constantly spring up when flailing around with awkwardly animated characters. Pawns are able to vault themselves onto opponents, but from there the ragdoll antics go through a laughable state that makes monsters and party members jitter, even if the beast falls prone. Gravity isn’t what it used to be in this title.

 

Expectation

 

This jerky motion does put a damper on combat, but this minor element is already not as great as one would believe it is from looking at all the options available. Dragon’s Dogma works with pawns that come together to form a party. These guys and gals form a pact to defeat a giant evil on some nearby quest and they come in many different classes. Fighters, rogues, wizards and the likes should offer a nice amount of diversity in battle; especially given controls can launch a highly different set of attacks. For instance, a roguish character can use a bow in third person and launch several attacks either in quantity or severity, but it can also switch to blades and once more diversify blows. However, very little of it is needed and even the toughest opponents can be offed by flailing any attack about long enough. This also reverts the alternatives from pawn abilities to a mere minimum; only available as a shortcut to healing or something similar. It’s possible to issue commands to party members, but so far Dragon’s Dogma hasn’t given any demand for it. It’s a shame, because under its hood, the game has every element needed to succeed in being a gripping tactical slammer, instead of the glorified button masher it is now.

Luckily, it still owns some features that can grant it some redemption, such as how pawns actually work. Through stones, players can grab hold of a wide array of pawns from all over the universe and rent these adventurers to round out their parties, if necessary. While it isn’t critical in any sense yet, it can still help and adds a mixture of characters and playing styles on the fly, plus grants some social incentive towards playing. Additionally, playing different characters do offer differences in gameplay styles that lets players choose which they are most comfortable with or which is more advisable in the case needed. For instance, tackling a flying monster will make a lot more sense as a ranged character that can lob heavy volleys at it, instead of desperately trying to hack it to pieces with a melee character.

 

Reality

 

Still, Dragon’s Dogma doesn’t wow like it should, though that shouldn’t be interpreted the wrong way. By all means, it represents an adequate RPG experience; it just doesn’t live up nearly enough to its full potential. Instead, it stays down the shallow path of button mashing and that’s detrimental to the barrage of diversity it offers that goes to waste through it. Let us hope that the full game will see it soar as high as it can and should and fixes those inaccuracies.

 

Daav Valentaten, NoobFeed. (@Daavpuke)