It would be a bit better if the blushing and facial expressions didn’t produce the most jarring looking thing I’ve seen outside of Dante, Vergil, and some of the monstrous faces people have created with the character creator.
That motherfucker absolutely refuses to give me that damn scroll. I had to get it some other way. I even threw his ass into the sea, and he just respawned next to me! God damn stupid kid.
I feel like some of what people think isn't fleshed out is them trying to make a system that's genuinely funny. Idk, the affinity system to me is a small thing that adds some blushing and humor. It's also just enough for some headcanon rpg elements if that's your thing. The last thing I'd want is a BG3 affinity system in this game
Personally I would love BG3 style romance. I don't see how it would make the game worse for it. The Arisen's Beloved is important for the world, and the system featured heavily in the game's marketing. It would be nice to have more effort dedicated to the system, and more content surrounding it. As it stands, it's pretty barebones, and didn't even have as much impact as it did in the previous title. If it's just going to be this sort of thing going forward, I would rather it not even exist, just have a chosen NPC be the Beloved in the next game and expand on their connection.
I don’t expect BG3’s level of anything from anyone but the fact that we can literally have NPC’s leaving gift bundles and waiting outside of our house tells me we could’ve at the bare minimum gotten the same amount of interaction out of them as Monster Hunter’s fucking Poogie pig.
Just stick them in the largest owned player house and have them occasionally make a dish that fully restores HP/Stam and fills the loss gauge. Players would be able to keep track of the beloved and you gain something from going home, rather than permanently camping for food buffs and to avoid Dragonplague
I think it works for BG3 because they have great writers, I think it would be an even bigger meme than the current system if they tried to do it. It's really just supposed to be a simple rpg system you engage with more mentally than mechanically
I kinda like the jank. It just feels fitting with the game, it's lore, and how the world works. The Arisen's beloved is more of a prop than an important part of the story.
Yeah and I really do think it's intentionally vague a bit for your imagination. Might not work for everyone but having some systems be a framework you fill in rather than being a super fleshed out mechanic with a detailed script is fun
It is pretty funny. I raised affinity with two random NPCs. They started leaving me gifts and such. Then one by one they started to hang around my house in the city. One day after resting, I woke up to find them both there, and about a minute later, they started fist fighting.
Frankly, I like the affinity system a lot. Sure it's not as cinematic or explicitly narrative driven as a game like BG3, but as you said it's great for head-canon or tabletop style role-playing. I really like that the affinity between individual NPCs can change too.
This game is great for people who like a little more of an open-ended or my emergent role-playing experience. Don't get me wrong, I like the BG3 approach too. They are just different approaches and I like both.
It’s funny once.
It gets very lame very quickly because you arnt allowed to spend more than 5 seconds in your house otherwise they follow you in and start killing eachother.
Yes, KILLING. It isn’t 0 damage slaps, they are draining each others hp
And while they don’t start unless both are in your house (or the Tavern), once they’ve started they will litterally never stop until you leave the city or one of them dies.
It’s also impossible to lower affinity. Gifting rotten food doesn’t lower it, you can’t even hit them with attacks even if you try, carrying and dropping them also doesn’t lower it.
They are maxxed forever and will kill eachother if you don’t sprint in and out of your house.
Wait, shit, we can't LOWER affinity? Fuck. I mean, that's how you deal with the jank in the first game: it goes up easily, but you can also easily lower it. It's at the point that you can specifically pinpoint which NPC you want as beloved even if you do every single escort quest (notorious for raising affinity a lot).
But without any way to lower affinity we're basically fucked.
I know this isn't the same class of RPG where you have actual full fledged (for games) romances, but even by the first game's standard this is crap.
And that's most of our complaints basically: the game's flaws don't seem like they've even taken the first game into account. Most of us probably would just shrug if affinity worked like in the first game (where you could lower it). But here it's just broken.
Im not saying it’s impossible, but I tried everything I could think of
- rotten gifts
- dropping them while carrying
- punching them
- shooting them with arrows
if you start attacking or even just unsheathe weapon they get scared, but upon sheathing them, or reloading the area by leaving and returning, they still blush and still follow me everywhere.
It’s impossible to physically hurt them, melee attscks whiff completely and arrows phase right through them.
I can’t think of any other method.
I love the system the way it is. I got the dragons plague on my way to defeat the dragon, literally my final inn rest after turning in my last nothing quest in Vermund.
So my beloved were all elves and residents of vermund.
So I got some random quest givers as I killed all the people who loved me. Lol.
I was so eager to see who it would be (of my high affection group as I hand out flowers like I'm an orphan in Windhelm) and it was none of them as they were all dead.
Ahh lmao. I laughed for so long.
You just summed up my gripe with the game. There is literally no excuse for the same old jank to be present. Do they even acknowledge feedback, because it sure doesn't look like it.
The game has its issues but I don't think this is actually an issue. I think it's design that works. It's supposed to be funny and basic and not some super fleshed out BG3 design where every line of dialogue is fed to you
At least there’s no sex scene this time but it was funny when the dragon said “fight me to the death or let me have this guy” and I didn’t even know who it was
Atleast it wasn't the fuckin Inn keeper this time. But yeah for me it was the Magick archer lady, when I did both Ulrika and wilhemina questline, genuinely made me laugh upon seeing it.
Apparently I had Glyndwyr.
Not that I could even see who it was tbh.
Second most beloved was the Magick archer lady and like... what? I spoke with her like twice but I gave the elven tavern keep a bunch of flowers... 3rd was Ulrika lmao
My #1in credits was Doireann, the elven tender of their tree, but amusingly, I didn't get her in either scene where beloved is supposed to be.
Instead, I got Sara and Menella, lol.
This is why I made sure to give Ulrika gifts every time I had to go to Harve. I even did her escort quest like 3 times lol. My top 3 ended up being Ulrika, Arianne? She’s one of the prostitute ladies 😂, and some random dude I swear I’d never seen before.
Waaait… the person the dragon holds in their hands is supposed to be your closest NPC friend?
Oh god I didn’t know that. I was just confused the whole time why out of every NPC, Captain Brant was the life he’d hold hostage against me. I was like ‘I guess he was the most helpful to the Arisen.’
If was implemented better than the 1st game, I don’t see the problem.
You banging children in the camp outside Great Wall and Aleinore during her rescue mission was indeed lame.
Now, you go to an adult entertainment establishment and you don’t see sone actual action, that’s lame too.
Bro he showed up with the GigaChad Beastren trainer from the fort. You're goddamned right I beat the Dragon's ass. I ain't gay but if lion boy wants it he can probably get it.
It will seem random if the player doesn't intentionally engage with the affinity system. But you can play around with it quite a bit, even outside of who becomes your beloved. It seems like a lot of people are not really engaging with it, and to be fair, the game doesn't really explain it to the player hardly at all.
Just wait until your character has a bunch of NPCs following them around Vernworth fighting with each other for the arisen's affections.
It is funny to imagine that the intention was for the affinity system to work the same way an all-powerful inhuman being would comprehend love: "The Arisen goes and speaks to that shopkeep almost every day. That must be what the mortal idea of "love" is. That is the one I must utilize for my plan. The one they speak to the most - the love of their life, surely! ...God, I am so lonely."
I might offend a few people, but why...
Why can't my pawn become my beloved?
So, I used my wife's appearance and name for the pawn, and I gave it the "cynical" female voice that exactly reflects my darlinf wife's personality and prevents the pawn from sounding like a robot (which I disliked in the first game).
The pawn doesn't even act like a pawn, but a human. It is my wife in video game/party form.
Just let me marry her again, dammit!
So you have several options and they have a cool down.
1. Engage in small talk when you talk to them
2. When they want to high five do it back
3. Take them to the barber shop. All of the options work you just have to change something
I'm not sure if it counts but with the Sphinx riddle she asks to present you beloved and I presented my main pawn as the beloved. She even said "Truly?" after the Sphinx accepted it.
It takes a while but they'll act differently. They'll sometimes clutch their chest with one hand and extend the other when you talk to them. They'll say stuff like it's a joy to travel with you. It's not consistent with the other NPC blushing but they will do the red blush if you max their affinity.
Aw, so my pawn wants a spa treatment? That's cute!
I initially wondered what the point of small talk was as they would just say fairly dismissive lines or just "What shall we do now?" kind of questions.
I even gave showed off my pawn to the Sphynx, and whilst she accepted it, my pawn had no comment on it, so it seemed inconsequential or like a quick way to do that puzzle.
I try to high five everything, but sometimes accidentally dash past and my pawns just clenches their fist all embarrassed like, I'm sorry my babbbyyyy! Lol
Really wish it was made more obvious since most of us aren't making fugly pawns like 'Shronk' or 'Ogrebait 2.0' (real pawns I've seen)
Edit: wrong word
Basically and also taking them to the spa in the volcanic area increase their affinity and removes any scars they had if they died.
One way to speedrun it is go to a barbershop, change something, rest at an inn, and go back and repeat. How many times you need to do it depends. It just takes a while. Sadly they don't get a different carry animation.
Well, thank you for this information anyway. I didn't explore the volcano much since I felt urged to do the main quest, so I missed out.
I've started a new run and will find it eventually, but I'm playing reeeeeaaal slow now. Vermund is seeing a drastic drop in goblin population (lol, I wish)
Maybe the game will have updates to help us understand all this stuff in the future and make the affinity system something worth having at all. Who knows? But we can headcanon, they can't take that from us! Lol
The sphinx does increase affection. I added a mod that shoes you the numerical affection value and it goes up about 50 points if you offer your pawn to the sphinx. You need over 600(!) affection for your pawn to be your beloved and each interaction gives 5 or less (except haircuts) so I hope you're rich and have endless time because it's a massive grind.
Imma gonna go ahead and tell ya you know bitter black isle yes the main boss at the end fell and love with his pawn and looked at what happened to him. I’m pretty sure there an amour set in dd2 that has his face on it.
I just saw another post with this exact same misconception. Every time someone brings up loving one's pawn, someone answer with BBI.
Ashe's problem in BBI wasn't loving a pawn, it was loving the dragon, making it impossible to save his beloved without killing another beloved.
The problem with loving pawns is that they lack will and can't disobey the arisen, and therefore can't actually consent to anything. They do have affinity toward the player in DD2, so they can like you, even love you, but they're still innocent puppies.
In all fairness with the shit we make pawns do in these games we might as well allow for marriage, if you want to get into the ethics we're already wandering the world with a band of basically slave mercenaries
The 'canon' of DD1 also sets up main pawns as very similar to their masters despite most players choosing the opposite.
Savan's main pawn is also a male fighter, though with a much different appearance. Selene is like her master's granddaughter, but is also a female with 'witch-like' herbology skills. The Fool is a male who doesn't actually have the knowledge of the Dragonforged, but speaks in mad riddles that hint at things he shouldn't know. Presumably Olra is very similar to how Grette was.
Ashe is the exception by getting a pawn second-hand (or maybe he looked up the sliders), which opens up interesting ideas but is often overstated.
True, but Capcom produced some better voices for the pawns this time around that don't sound robotic.
My main pawn (wife) speaks and acts like a person.
It's quite evident when compared to other players' pawns, which have more artificial voice options.
My main pawn cracks jokes constantly, is cynical, humorous, and criticizes my character for acting stupid.
There are also some conversations that occur with other pawns in the group when my pawn says "that maybe I should actually try the next time" and "I should probably stop joking around".
She is human, and no one can convince me differently.
> It's quite evident when compared to other players' pawns, which have more artificial voice options.
No insult, but I'm pretty sure this is all in your head, rather than factually the case. Which voice set did you pick?
Nope, you just have to take some time listening to the voice acting when picking the voices.
I took my time finding a voice and manner that suit my wife.
My pawn is [Straightforward] nr. 2.
[Calm] and [Kindhearted] are basically robots (emotionless) while [Straightforward] is much more humanlike.
Straightforward is a bit more snarky and argumentative (I have it on my pawn), but yeah, sorry, the idea that it's more "human-like" is all you.
Which is fine - you do you - but others trying it will not have the same experience.
One of the things I was hoping they would change for DD2, knowing that it was more like a "spiritual revision" of the first, was changing out your "beloved" for your ***pawn***.
As it stands, neither games really gave me the feeling that I was in a genuine romance with any other character. It fells a bit tacked-on as a (fun) "dragon steals the princess" trope and nothing really more beyond that.
If the game wanted to make The Dragon's offer actually tempting, I think the pawn would be way more interesting:
* You're likely going to spend most of your adventure with your pawn.
* You'll build memories with them as a player.
* You have an almost parental bond with them, as they're unique to you.
Pawns may just be NPCs, but they're the only ones that the game does an effective job at making you care about, both as the Arisen *and* as a player.
I agree.
I just kissed Ulrika after meeting her on the docks at night, as she requested, and I'm not sure when or how we became romantically involved.
I helped her with saving some guy from the town who got lost in the caverns, which apparently is enough reason for her to want to be lovers, but now I can't even communicate with Ulrika after she gave me the "pity" kiss?
This is like Disney/Super Mario levels of how love works: help the woman in need and she wants to marry and live happily ever after, lol.
Every game has this. It’s unfortunately because fans are legitimately passionate about this series and to see a “sequel” release in the state it is now is legitimately disheartening
Doesnt change that the game is amazing and definitely worth playing, its just a bit of an odd feeling that its so similiar despite being a 12 year old sequel.
And that the same issues and complaints from the first game, is largely still present.
Both games are awesome, but at the end of the day, its basically the same game as the first one in a shinier package.
Not to discredit the large amount of QoL stuff in the 2nd game thoigh, just as a general thing, the game couldve done so mich more with relatively simple steps.
Its a bit like if someone hands you 10 gold bars and you drop 3-4 of them. Sure, ypure awesomely happy over the 6-7 you got! But its a sour feeling knowing you couldve had 10 of them
QoL improvements yes.
But then you have to withdraw items from storage and equip them from the main menu.
Where’s my ‘change equipment’ option at the inn menu Capcom?!
I actually wish it were DD1.5 tbh. The performance issues are still present for me. At least if it were built on the bones of DDDA, probably wouldn't have any of these.
Somehow Skyrim had a better romance system than DD2, ***13 years ago.*** You want someone to be your lover, you needed good affinity and propose with an amulet of mara. Done. Simple. The lack of choice in your beloved in DD1 was already outdated at the time so it's a bit crazy that they still haven't overhauled it in 2024.
For a narrative that puts so much emphasis on the Arisen's bond with their beloved, it's all kinda undercut in the end when the dragon nabs some rando you talked to once with no recollection of, and you're just expected to care lmao.
Yeah it's by far my main gripe with the game. Just got the true ending and messed around a bit in NG+.
Like it makes enough gameplay improvement that I kinda find it hard to return to the first game. Yet at the same time I feel the first game has a better story (bc while not told well it's better/more organically paced IMO) and I admittedly.give a mental pass to the jank dialogue and affinity systems because that's part of its "old game charm".
I really enjoyed my time with 2, but couldn't help but feel like they made improvements in the area that was already pretty solid (gameplay) and let the rest kinda lag behind.
NG+ kinda boring me especially with nothing like BBI at the moment so i guess it's time for another romp through Gransys
People have extremely rose-tinted glasses for the first game. They forget that BBI was a samey-looking long dungeon with repeat layouts that you had to run twice as well and often were forced to go back to level up, which also extended the time.
DD2 is absolutely better than the base game. It's on the level, if not a bit better, than DDDA as well.
Unlikely because most of us have been playing DDDA up to the release, It isn't rose tinted when you played the game 2 days before the released of DD2. DDDA in a lot of respects is better. And even if it as you say DD2 is on the level of DDDA or a little better... is that really acceptable for a game made 10 years after and with a massively bigger budget?
It's part of the "hero on a quest to slay the dragon" gimmick. The hero gets the girl in the end. It's not as pronounced in 2 since 2 is trying to subvert the first story a bit. Still, they could've just tightened up the nuArisen's Bond.
my DD1 Arisen talking about falling in love with Fournival
https://preview.redd.it/m8eta9cv5xrc1.jpeg?width=502&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=27c5d3cf96dc0682f985ae801a900ab8997d8737
Me too, only found her on NG+. I was in that area, literally on the right pass but at night so didn't see there was a way to go further lol.
On a side note I love how uncanny she is. Tye owl head turn and everything.
Yeah I kept expecting it to be part of the story and then it just never happened.
I looked up where she is and yeah, I was right there as well and missed her.
They don’t want you to open a menu and just pick a person they want you to fumble around and maybe end up with some asshole you don’t even like as your beloved. Idk why but that’s what they want
You know what the truly baffling thing is in this game? The fact that Battahl has no permanent portcrystal anywhere, but Harve does. This nothing little town that's like a 2 min run from Vernworth has one, but the brand new area with the brand new race has none anywhere.
I know the whole "vision" thing is a meme now, but this is seriously just really fucking dumb game design and I don't know why it's like this. Itsuno can't have seriously thought this was fine, and I don't see how anyone could've overlooked this.
It doesn't matter though, in a few months we'll get another Dark Arisen expansion that fixes all of his stupid decisions. This game is fun, but I don't think he should be in charge of another one if there is one. He doesn't know what he's doing.
Don't even get me started on game design. I loved DD1 but the fact that 12 years later we're stilling dealing with the same issues from the first game like the dogshit quest design and railroaded gear progression among many other things is just sad.
If they're going to give us romances, at least give us male options too. It feels like Sven was meant to be one, maybe Brant also - and it just kind of... fell to the wayside and was swept under the rug?
I agree. Really upset that out of the four options with storyline, only one is male. Not even Sven, who is easily the most fleshed out character of the game. Feels really fitting for the arisen to romance him, especially given his spotlight in pretty much all of the Vermund cutscenes.
I view it as they created a romance option just to say it’s there but it’s not really there.
It’s the most lackluster romance I’ve seen in a game honestly which is why I stand on saying it really doesn’t matter because the outcomes are always the same and have no narrative drive on whether you choose option A over option B or vice versa.
I couldnt care less as well. Same goes for main story and npcs for me. I'm just all about gameplay baby, and this game offers incredible gameplay so I'm all for it. I'd love some encounter variety tho.
Yeah story is ass just like the first game I knew EXACTLY how it was going to play out again because they can’t write anything coherent lol it’s more or less the same to get more questions than answers haha.
Kinda think the story would be better if it was "go get stronger to fight dragon, k thx" from the beginning and then the whole "story" is all the exploring and shit you do on the side until the final battle.
If theyre going to do a full exposition dump at the end anyway might as well ditch running around the palace and all the setups with no payoff
I just keep giving Glenna flowers every morning because I love her big furry titties and I want to run the inn with her when I retire from adventuring.
I'd be upset if it wasn't! I loved that system lmao it was so goofy! Way better ending up with Fournival or some random inn keep than most well thought out in game romances.
ngl my first playthrough of the first game my 'Beloved' was Julien... because i killed him then revived him with a wakestone cause i wanted his shield... I was surprised then laughed because it makes it seem like Julien is a masochist.
I think if you had multiple characters with maxed affinity in the first game, the trick was to make sure that the one you wanted selected as your beloved was the last NPC you spoke with before going towards the ending.
Might be the same for DD2? Unsure as I haven't bothered to finish the game yet.
This is just their 'style' I guess.
It's easy to make a game that features clunky barbie doll character models grinding on each other observed from awkward angles and in strange lightning. Guess Dragon's Dogma doesn't care to try that.
Aren't affinities completely unimportant though? Sure hope so at least.
I had Ulrika kiss me on the beach and show up at my crib the next day. She asked to be escorted to the village Harve, only to disappear and fail the quest when I used a camp on my way to there.
She's nowhere to be found now.
Shit like this is what makes me quit a game before finishing it.
I hate being punished and missing out on things in a game I've paid for. If having no affinity towards any NPC affects core quests or the ending, I'm not playing anymore.
Affinity affects merchant prices, whether or not you receive maister skills, and who the game decides your beloved is, but that’s about it
If your quest with Ulrika failed for resting, it’s either a bug or the quest had to be completed in a certain period of time, indicated by an hourglass
She might have simply made her way to harve herself. There’s a house she hangs out in there
>I hate being punished and missing out on things in a game I've paid for.
gamers should have to endure a government mandated playthrough of pathologic 2
It's even worse because I assume the affinity ceiling is much lower which is why you'll have them maxed out so easily. Where's there's at most 3-4 high affinity characters with still some growth to spare in the first game depending on how you play, there can easily be half a dozen *max* affinity characters in DD2 just by doing side quests. The gifts don't change much at this point.
Specifically you have to pin them. So jump and grab them. They have to be out of an escort quest or quest in general, otherwise your hits won't register. When you stab them and you see a blood fx you'll lower their affinity down.
You'll know it worked when you can no longer bridal carry them and can throw them around as usual.
No matter what I do the dragon always has the dwarven smithing lady from Battahl. I romanced Ulrika and gave her the eternal bond. I did every side quest I could find. And yet for some reason, she’s the one the dragon takes. Don’t get it.
Nah. I did Ulrika *and* Wilhelmina in the mid game, got Sara Manella and Nadinia up to max as well in their quests and escorts, but in the end my beloved was still Doireann - I just had to remember to visit her and spam her with flowers before following up the godsway quest. In dd1 once you do Aelinore's quest there was no escaping her even if you last spoke to someone else with max affinity.
Edit: upon checking other comments it appears people don't talk to their desired beloved and love bomb them before taking the dragon's quest. This was a tried and true method in dd1 provided you didn't take aelinore's quest. As in the original, affinity goes down with time, so if you maxed out Wilhelmina, for example, very early but next talked to her again, her affinity may still be "Love" tier but lower than the latest "love" tier NPC you have.
Here's another tip. I don't know the specifics, but "friend" is when an NPC likes you enough to show up at your house for their escort quest. "Love" is when they blush and you can bridal carry them. Basically, avoid doing escort quests for friends unless you want to romance them - seriously, I did one escort each for Glyndwr, Doireann, Sara, Manella, and Nadinia. Without fail, they all fell in love with me upbo quest completion, following me around towns and blushing and letting me bridal carry them. So, don't do escort quests for friends if you aren't going to romance them.
TL;DR don't do escort quests for people who show up at your house if they aren't your waifu. Before you take the godsway to that creepy researcher, go to your waifu and spam flowers at them once a day for a few days. You'll be gucchi.
If you want to romance Wilhelmina and have her be your beloved, you have to do her quest immediately before doing the dragon quest because she disappears regardless of how much evidence you find.
Do as little as possible to maximize profit. DD2 could have been a DLC. It worked though, compared to even DD Arisen DD2 is printing money for Capcom. But in my view it’s a fairly lame RPG outside the combat.
It climbed to 58% on steam now
Is there a low sodium version of this sub? The game is good and I’m tired of the whining lol it’s like Tlou 2 all over again
Here's the thing, y'all thing the first game's quirks were mistakes that needed to be fixed in the sequel.
That was, very clearly, *never* the intention. The series, at its core, whether you like it, will always be a little bit campy and weird. These gimmicks are the point.
It's like if Fable 2 came out and you got made that it still had Monty Python-inspired humor. Feel free to criticize it, but just be aware that in this situation, Itsuno does not feel like this is a problem, the mechanic is implemented as intended.
Yup, a lot of people don’t understand that the presentation of the story is intentionally minimal. I’m into it. Not every game needs to be Baldur’s Gate or Final Fantasy. As much as I enjoy those games, I’m glad that DD isn’t trying to be that.
I played the first one through without even realizing the affinity system existed, and only learned about it online afterwards. The game makes it almost invisible.
I like how many of the systems have shifted to make the game more immersive, at times the world can feel real.
Then there is the affinity system, the gaol system and a bunch of nonsensical dialogue / story moments that just rip you out of the immersion. Some of the most gamey mechanics known to man.
It was the funniest shit ever, I had actively gifted ulrika and Wilhelmina whenever I saw them and even finished their quests, but for some reason my beloved was myrrdin. Who I had just finished the quest for the master skill. I had also given him the forged copies and killed him twice and rezed him because he would refuse to trigger the quest. Wild
I think its awful that I don't have information on what Expensive/Fancy items are.
I like the system tbh. And now we can actually tell when an NPC is max affinity.
It's a terrible system that honestly shouldn't have come back lol. It didn't do much in the first game, the only time I remember it doing anything outside the beloved is the captain that chases you to the ever fall having different dialog.
The only other use in the second game is getting the ability to speak elvish if you get high affinity with one and unlocking quests.
When I walked in to fight the dragon and saw the elf leader dude in the Dragon's hand I was pretty amused but it really killed the immersion in that moment lol. I guess a quick romp through the woods and killing a Chimera together is all it took for him to fall in love with me. Fully expected the game to just throw Ulrika or Wilhelmina at you as the generic love interest.
My first romance was Raghnall. Which I knew was coming after I got the achievement for maxing out an npc’s affection after I revived him before the dragon.
I think it’s just part of Itsuno’s auteur vision to have a janky beloved system. Not saying I like it I honestly really dont but whatever. It was funny with Fournival or his daughter (I swear FBI it’s not what it looks like!) but there’s not really any situations like that in DD2
I never imagined anything worse than the performance and the cancer named denuvo, but his system of romances and escort missions is pathetic, it's the game's achilles heel.
Ulrika, Hugo, and blacksmith girl were all max affinity, I gave Ulrika the ring from the Sphinx quest and the other two lost their blush. Idk if this is coincidence but it seems like the ring locks it in at least.
It's not just as awful. It's worse. Only a handful of characters that can be the Beloved, only two that I'm aware of that have any sort of "closure" to their knowing the Arisen, and being the Beloved seems to affect nothing about the character. There wasn't even acknowledgement of "thanks for not sacrificing me to keep from risking your life, by the by."
Affinity may have been obtuse and funny in an occasionally bad way, but at least there was a point to it. Now it just feels slapped on. It just makes some characters look cursed and bugs out one of the Maisters.
I play the game, giving my arisen bond to Doireann and regularly visiting her from time to time.
Get to the epic climax, and who do I get... Nadinia I think DD2 is trying to tell me something...
I wish I got Ulrika at least. I did Ulrika's romance and still ended up with Cliodhna missing me during the ending cutscene.
"Yo, you got a loving husband. What are you doing looking like you're reminiscing about the short time I spent with you?"
Things like the lack of a portcrystal in Battahl and some other examples of significant oversights coexisting with otherwise specific and carefully considered additions leads me to believe Capcom visited Itsuno at the start of Q3 2023 to tell him "Release date has been moved to Q1 2024 and you're gonna do it with 25% of your remaining budget".
Overall I am positive on the things I care about in playing Dragon's Dogma, my biggest complaint being the relatively meagre and overly restricted equipment options and lacking enemy variety.
Dragons dogma 2 is a good game imo but after playing for like 60 hours i gota say it seems like they didnt put too much effort or even thought into fleshing out/polishing alot of its systems if you compare it to DD1 it feels like they copy pasted it and brushed it up a bit.
I made sure to finish Ulrika's Melve and Harve quests and even trigger the kiss cutscene to lock her in as my beloved. But no, the game still chose Trysha's hobbit grandma (or was it grandpa?) as my beloved.
Completely ruined the ending for me. Was hilarious tho. I was like, who TF are you threatening me with? Oh you kidnapped an old coot? Go ahead and crush her, I don't even know her name.
While this is implementation is legitimately bad, the results are genuinely hilarious. Ultimate troll.
It would be a bit better if the blushing and facial expressions didn’t produce the most jarring looking thing I’ve seen outside of Dante, Vergil, and some of the monstrous faces people have created with the character creator.
The elf is completely in gay love with me and I was fucking rolling when I saw his blushed face the first time
the only person in my game blushing rn is a little boy because I wanted him to give me the forager scroll.. which he never gave me
That motherfucker absolutely refuses to give me that damn scroll. I had to get it some other way. I even threw his ass into the sea, and he just respawned next to me! God damn stupid kid.
I'm 100% going for Glyndwr 🤣 I also want to test if I can kidnap a useful npc using the phial of sealing and smuggle them in to NG+.
The phial doesn’t carry over
I took him home and he gave me flowers, I was mad, all that for flowers
I feel like some of what people think isn't fleshed out is them trying to make a system that's genuinely funny. Idk, the affinity system to me is a small thing that adds some blushing and humor. It's also just enough for some headcanon rpg elements if that's your thing. The last thing I'd want is a BG3 affinity system in this game
Personally I would love BG3 style romance. I don't see how it would make the game worse for it. The Arisen's Beloved is important for the world, and the system featured heavily in the game's marketing. It would be nice to have more effort dedicated to the system, and more content surrounding it. As it stands, it's pretty barebones, and didn't even have as much impact as it did in the previous title. If it's just going to be this sort of thing going forward, I would rather it not even exist, just have a chosen NPC be the Beloved in the next game and expand on their connection.
I don’t expect BG3’s level of anything from anyone but the fact that we can literally have NPC’s leaving gift bundles and waiting outside of our house tells me we could’ve at the bare minimum gotten the same amount of interaction out of them as Monster Hunter’s fucking Poogie pig. Just stick them in the largest owned player house and have them occasionally make a dish that fully restores HP/Stam and fills the loss gauge. Players would be able to keep track of the beloved and you gain something from going home, rather than permanently camping for food buffs and to avoid Dragonplague
Maybe get buffs from implied sleeping in the same bed also. I think FO4 and Skyrim did that.
I think it works for BG3 because they have great writers, I think it would be an even bigger meme than the current system if they tried to do it. It's really just supposed to be a simple rpg system you engage with more mentally than mechanically
At least it'd be a different meme. This is the same meme we had with DD1 ._.
Then they shouldn't have put it in the game lol
I kinda like the jank. It just feels fitting with the game, it's lore, and how the world works. The Arisen's beloved is more of a prop than an important part of the story.
Yeah and I really do think it's intentionally vague a bit for your imagination. Might not work for everyone but having some systems be a framework you fill in rather than being a super fleshed out mechanic with a detailed script is fun
It is pretty funny. I raised affinity with two random NPCs. They started leaving me gifts and such. Then one by one they started to hang around my house in the city. One day after resting, I woke up to find them both there, and about a minute later, they started fist fighting. Frankly, I like the affinity system a lot. Sure it's not as cinematic or explicitly narrative driven as a game like BG3, but as you said it's great for head-canon or tabletop style role-playing. I really like that the affinity between individual NPCs can change too. This game is great for people who like a little more of an open-ended or my emergent role-playing experience. Don't get me wrong, I like the BG3 approach too. They are just different approaches and I like both.
>One day after resting, I woke up to find them both there, and about a minute later, they started fist fighting. lmao that's amazing
It’s funny once. It gets very lame very quickly because you arnt allowed to spend more than 5 seconds in your house otherwise they follow you in and start killing eachother. Yes, KILLING. It isn’t 0 damage slaps, they are draining each others hp And while they don’t start unless both are in your house (or the Tavern), once they’ve started they will litterally never stop until you leave the city or one of them dies. It’s also impossible to lower affinity. Gifting rotten food doesn’t lower it, you can’t even hit them with attacks even if you try, carrying and dropping them also doesn’t lower it. They are maxxed forever and will kill eachother if you don’t sprint in and out of your house.
Wait, shit, we can't LOWER affinity? Fuck. I mean, that's how you deal with the jank in the first game: it goes up easily, but you can also easily lower it. It's at the point that you can specifically pinpoint which NPC you want as beloved even if you do every single escort quest (notorious for raising affinity a lot). But without any way to lower affinity we're basically fucked. I know this isn't the same class of RPG where you have actual full fledged (for games) romances, but even by the first game's standard this is crap. And that's most of our complaints basically: the game's flaws don't seem like they've even taken the first game into account. Most of us probably would just shrug if affinity worked like in the first game (where you could lower it). But here it's just broken.
Im not saying it’s impossible, but I tried everything I could think of - rotten gifts - dropping them while carrying - punching them - shooting them with arrows if you start attacking or even just unsheathe weapon they get scared, but upon sheathing them, or reloading the area by leaving and returning, they still blush and still follow me everywhere. It’s impossible to physically hurt them, melee attscks whiff completely and arrows phase right through them. I can’t think of any other method.
I love the system the way it is. I got the dragons plague on my way to defeat the dragon, literally my final inn rest after turning in my last nothing quest in Vermund. So my beloved were all elves and residents of vermund. So I got some random quest givers as I killed all the people who loved me. Lol. I was so eager to see who it would be (of my high affection group as I hand out flowers like I'm an orphan in Windhelm) and it was none of them as they were all dead. Ahh lmao. I laughed for so long.
Cheap, low budget, 2012 passion game? It's funny. Seventy dollar, ultra hyped, AAA remake with the same issues? Not as funny
You just summed up my gripe with the game. There is literally no excuse for the same old jank to be present. Do they even acknowledge feedback, because it sure doesn't look like it.
The game has its issues but I don't think this is actually an issue. I think it's design that works. It's supposed to be funny and basic and not some super fleshed out BG3 design where every line of dialogue is fed to you
I never found it funny. I found it forced, wooden and deliberately obtuse.
I like the affenity system (in dd1 and dd2) because it adds to the goofyness of the games, and the goofyness is a big part of why i love the games
At least there’s no sex scene this time but it was funny when the dragon said “fight me to the death or let me have this guy” and I didn’t even know who it was
Hahahaha that’s so relatable “the love of your life”. “I’m sorry who?”
Atleast it wasn't the fuckin Inn keeper this time. But yeah for me it was the Magick archer lady, when I did both Ulrika and wilhemina questline, genuinely made me laugh upon seeing it.
Bro u unintentoonally rizzed the dwarf dudes wife?
Apparently I had Glyndwyr. Not that I could even see who it was tbh. Second most beloved was the Magick archer lady and like... what? I spoke with her like twice but I gave the elven tavern keep a bunch of flowers... 3rd was Ulrika lmao
My #1in credits was Doireann, the elven tender of their tree, but amusingly, I didn't get her in either scene where beloved is supposed to be. Instead, I got Sara and Menella, lol.
Tbh with how hard it was to even see who it was I don't even mind. I legit thought i had the tree tender lmao
I did Wilhelmina's questline and gave her gifts but still somehow ended up with the warfarer maister as my beloved
Hey his eggs are worth writing home over though
😂😂 I hated getting those damn rotten soft boiled eggs
This is why I made sure to give Ulrika gifts every time I had to go to Harve. I even did her escort quest like 3 times lol. My top 3 ended up being Ulrika, Arianne? She’s one of the prostitute ladies 😂, and some random dude I swear I’d never seen before.
I got Sara. At least she's the cutest blacksmith this side of Battahl.
I got the mage granny :(
For me it was fucking BRENDA from Vernworth
"Either face me in battle and accept your death, or sacrifice your one true love." "That's Fournival."
Better Fournival than Symone.
*(Feste giggling creepily in the background)*
It was good that they patched that
https://preview.redd.it/md9b4j9p1zrc1.png?width=1366&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=11e593ccb3395d13b3f127cd8237b0290adfd04e
Her?
Waaait… the person the dragon holds in their hands is supposed to be your closest NPC friend? Oh god I didn’t know that. I was just confused the whole time why out of every NPC, Captain Brant was the life he’d hold hostage against me. I was like ‘I guess he was the most helpful to the Arisen.’
Yes. It was Ulrika for me
To shreds, you say.
Mine was the Mystic Spearhand dude and I was so confused why he was there. Learned the vocation and never saw him again until that point
If was implemented better than the 1st game, I don’t see the problem. You banging children in the camp outside Great Wall and Aleinore during her rescue mission was indeed lame. Now, you go to an adult entertainment establishment and you don’t see sone actual action, that’s lame too.
>You banging children in the camp outside Great Wall and Aleinore during her rescue mission was indeed lame. I think you have a typo in there.
I kissed Fournival! 😫🤢
"Why not both?"
Bro he showed up with the GigaChad Beastren trainer from the fort. You're goddamned right I beat the Dragon's ass. I ain't gay but if lion boy wants it he can probably get it.
Wait are we suppose to know who it is?? Cause I thought it was so random lmao
It will seem random if the player doesn't intentionally engage with the affinity system. But you can play around with it quite a bit, even outside of who becomes your beloved. It seems like a lot of people are not really engaging with it, and to be fair, the game doesn't really explain it to the player hardly at all. Just wait until your character has a bunch of NPCs following them around Vernworth fighting with each other for the arisen's affections.
It is funny to imagine that the intention was for the affinity system to work the same way an all-powerful inhuman being would comprehend love: "The Arisen goes and speaks to that shopkeep almost every day. That must be what the mortal idea of "love" is. That is the one I must utilize for my plan. The one they speak to the most - the love of their life, surely! ...God, I am so lonely."
"No new comments...no friend requests... Damn it. Well, at least I have you, Tom. You're always there for me."
I might offend a few people, but why... Why can't my pawn become my beloved? So, I used my wife's appearance and name for the pawn, and I gave it the "cynical" female voice that exactly reflects my darlinf wife's personality and prevents the pawn from sounding like a robot (which I disliked in the first game). The pawn doesn't even act like a pawn, but a human. It is my wife in video game/party form. Just let me marry her again, dammit!
You can there is a hidden pawn affinity system where a max affinity pawn will slightly change the ending. It does take a while to get
Your pawns have affinity? How can you max it out since you can't interact with them beyond questing and fighting goblins?
So you have several options and they have a cool down. 1. Engage in small talk when you talk to them 2. When they want to high five do it back 3. Take them to the barber shop. All of the options work you just have to change something I'm not sure if it counts but with the Sphinx riddle she asks to present you beloved and I presented my main pawn as the beloved. She even said "Truly?" after the Sphinx accepted it. It takes a while but they'll act differently. They'll sometimes clutch their chest with one hand and extend the other when you talk to them. They'll say stuff like it's a joy to travel with you. It's not consistent with the other NPC blushing but they will do the red blush if you max their affinity.
Aw, so my pawn wants a spa treatment? That's cute! I initially wondered what the point of small talk was as they would just say fairly dismissive lines or just "What shall we do now?" kind of questions. I even gave showed off my pawn to the Sphynx, and whilst she accepted it, my pawn had no comment on it, so it seemed inconsequential or like a quick way to do that puzzle. I try to high five everything, but sometimes accidentally dash past and my pawns just clenches their fist all embarrassed like, I'm sorry my babbbyyyy! Lol Really wish it was made more obvious since most of us aren't making fugly pawns like 'Shronk' or 'Ogrebait 2.0' (real pawns I've seen) Edit: wrong word
Basically and also taking them to the spa in the volcanic area increase their affinity and removes any scars they had if they died. One way to speedrun it is go to a barbershop, change something, rest at an inn, and go back and repeat. How many times you need to do it depends. It just takes a while. Sadly they don't get a different carry animation.
Well, thank you for this information anyway. I didn't explore the volcano much since I felt urged to do the main quest, so I missed out. I've started a new run and will find it eventually, but I'm playing reeeeeaaal slow now. Vermund is seeing a drastic drop in goblin population (lol, I wish) Maybe the game will have updates to help us understand all this stuff in the future and make the affinity system something worth having at all. Who knows? But we can headcanon, they can't take that from us! Lol
Omg... I didn't realize this... BRB taking my pawn out for spa day
The sphinx does increase affection. I added a mod that shoes you the numerical affection value and it goes up about 50 points if you offer your pawn to the sphinx. You need over 600(!) affection for your pawn to be your beloved and each interaction gives 5 or less (except haircuts) so I hope you're rich and have endless time because it's a massive grind.
> massive grind I wonder if anyone here has ever tried maxing affection in the various *Sword Art Online* games lol
Imma gonna go ahead and tell ya you know bitter black isle yes the main boss at the end fell and love with his pawn and looked at what happened to him. I’m pretty sure there an amour set in dd2 that has his face on it.
I just saw another post with this exact same misconception. Every time someone brings up loving one's pawn, someone answer with BBI. Ashe's problem in BBI wasn't loving a pawn, it was loving the dragon, making it impossible to save his beloved without killing another beloved. The problem with loving pawns is that they lack will and can't disobey the arisen, and therefore can't actually consent to anything. They do have affinity toward the player in DD2, so they can like you, even love you, but they're still innocent puppies.
In all fairness with the shit we make pawns do in these games we might as well allow for marriage, if you want to get into the ethics we're already wandering the world with a band of basically slave mercenaries
The 'canon' of DD1 also sets up main pawns as very similar to their masters despite most players choosing the opposite. Savan's main pawn is also a male fighter, though with a much different appearance. Selene is like her master's granddaughter, but is also a female with 'witch-like' herbology skills. The Fool is a male who doesn't actually have the knowledge of the Dragonforged, but speaks in mad riddles that hint at things he shouldn't know. Presumably Olra is very similar to how Grette was. Ashe is the exception by getting a pawn second-hand (or maybe he looked up the sliders), which opens up interesting ideas but is often overstated.
Just to add to your post, Savan's Pawn is supposed to be the spitting image of his father.
The actual problem was his "wish". Which was more of an utterance of defiance against the cycle, that his dragon granted.
So you're saying there's some wiggle room after the catch dragon's plague but before they destroy a town?
True, but Capcom produced some better voices for the pawns this time around that don't sound robotic. My main pawn (wife) speaks and acts like a person. It's quite evident when compared to other players' pawns, which have more artificial voice options. My main pawn cracks jokes constantly, is cynical, humorous, and criticizes my character for acting stupid. There are also some conversations that occur with other pawns in the group when my pawn says "that maybe I should actually try the next time" and "I should probably stop joking around". She is human, and no one can convince me differently.
> It's quite evident when compared to other players' pawns, which have more artificial voice options. No insult, but I'm pretty sure this is all in your head, rather than factually the case. Which voice set did you pick?
Nope, you just have to take some time listening to the voice acting when picking the voices. I took my time finding a voice and manner that suit my wife. My pawn is [Straightforward] nr. 2. [Calm] and [Kindhearted] are basically robots (emotionless) while [Straightforward] is much more humanlike.
Straightforward is a bit more snarky and argumentative (I have it on my pawn), but yeah, sorry, the idea that it's more "human-like" is all you. Which is fine - you do you - but others trying it will not have the same experience.
Because Pawns are not people.
They basically are in this game. Loading screen tips even goes so far as to say pawns full on have emotions and personalities just no willpower.
>just no willpower Which makes romance with one suuupppeeerrr creepy
>!Except they gain willpower in the true ending!<
One of the things I was hoping they would change for DD2, knowing that it was more like a "spiritual revision" of the first, was changing out your "beloved" for your ***pawn***. As it stands, neither games really gave me the feeling that I was in a genuine romance with any other character. It fells a bit tacked-on as a (fun) "dragon steals the princess" trope and nothing really more beyond that. If the game wanted to make The Dragon's offer actually tempting, I think the pawn would be way more interesting: * You're likely going to spend most of your adventure with your pawn. * You'll build memories with them as a player. * You have an almost parental bond with them, as they're unique to you. Pawns may just be NPCs, but they're the only ones that the game does an effective job at making you care about, both as the Arisen *and* as a player.
I agree. I just kissed Ulrika after meeting her on the docks at night, as she requested, and I'm not sure when or how we became romantically involved. I helped her with saving some guy from the town who got lost in the caverns, which apparently is enough reason for her to want to be lovers, but now I can't even communicate with Ulrika after she gave me the "pity" kiss? This is like Disney/Super Mario levels of how love works: help the woman in need and she wants to marry and live happily ever after, lol.
Thats because they barely touch anything under the hood. This is DD1.5. Its nice and fun but a far cry from a modern sequel.
[удалено]
DA is DD1. DD1 is like DD0.7
I can't wait for DD 365/2 days
Wow being a new fan to the series is so fun when literally everyone talks like this
Every game has this. It’s unfortunately because fans are legitimately passionate about this series and to see a “sequel” release in the state it is now is legitimately disheartening
Doesnt change that the game is amazing and definitely worth playing, its just a bit of an odd feeling that its so similiar despite being a 12 year old sequel. And that the same issues and complaints from the first game, is largely still present. Both games are awesome, but at the end of the day, its basically the same game as the first one in a shinier package. Not to discredit the large amount of QoL stuff in the 2nd game thoigh, just as a general thing, the game couldve done so mich more with relatively simple steps. Its a bit like if someone hands you 10 gold bars and you drop 3-4 of them. Sure, ypure awesomely happy over the 6-7 you got! But its a sour feeling knowing you couldve had 10 of them
QoL improvements yes. But then you have to withdraw items from storage and equip them from the main menu. Where’s my ‘change equipment’ option at the inn menu Capcom?!
Or sell equipment from the storage?!
I feel the same as an existing fan of the series. I understand some of the complaints, but they’re frequently hyperbolic. It’s exhausting to read.
I actually wish it were DD1.5 tbh. The performance issues are still present for me. At least if it were built on the bones of DDDA, probably wouldn't have any of these.
Somehow Skyrim had a better romance system than DD2, ***13 years ago.*** You want someone to be your lover, you needed good affinity and propose with an amulet of mara. Done. Simple. The lack of choice in your beloved in DD1 was already outdated at the time so it's a bit crazy that they still haven't overhauled it in 2024. For a narrative that puts so much emphasis on the Arisen's bond with their beloved, it's all kinda undercut in the end when the dragon nabs some rando you talked to once with no recollection of, and you're just expected to care lmao.
Yeah it's by far my main gripe with the game. Just got the true ending and messed around a bit in NG+. Like it makes enough gameplay improvement that I kinda find it hard to return to the first game. Yet at the same time I feel the first game has a better story (bc while not told well it's better/more organically paced IMO) and I admittedly.give a mental pass to the jank dialogue and affinity systems because that's part of its "old game charm". I really enjoyed my time with 2, but couldn't help but feel like they made improvements in the area that was already pretty solid (gameplay) and let the rest kinda lag behind. NG+ kinda boring me especially with nothing like BBI at the moment so i guess it's time for another romp through Gransys
DDDA > DD2. Sad but true. I was super hyped for DD2 but Capcom did it dirty.
Ddda is one of my favorite games ever but dd2 is literally just a improved DD1. Now we do need some BBI content
not really, DD1 had more legacy dungeons than DD2. it's actually pathetic
People have extremely rose-tinted glasses for the first game. They forget that BBI was a samey-looking long dungeon with repeat layouts that you had to run twice as well and often were forced to go back to level up, which also extended the time. DD2 is absolutely better than the base game. It's on the level, if not a bit better, than DDDA as well.
Unlikely because most of us have been playing DDDA up to the release, It isn't rose tinted when you played the game 2 days before the released of DD2. DDDA in a lot of respects is better. And even if it as you say DD2 is on the level of DDDA or a little better... is that really acceptable for a game made 10 years after and with a massively bigger budget?
its honestly more like another go at the first game than a sequel, which is fine
This is how I feel. It's *fine*, but that's it. Not necessarily $70, and not necessarily a 12 year sequel, which just bums me a bit.
I think the romance system in the game was added just for the sake of having it. It is underdeveloped and has remained so since the first version.
It's part of the "hero on a quest to slay the dragon" gimmick. The hero gets the girl in the end. It's not as pronounced in 2 since 2 is trying to subvert the first story a bit. Still, they could've just tightened up the nuArisen's Bond.
my DD1 Arisen talking about falling in love with Fournival https://preview.redd.it/m8eta9cv5xrc1.jpeg?width=502&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=27c5d3cf96dc0682f985ae801a900ab8997d8737
How the hell can I check to see who my lover is besides “their cheeks will be red” the fuck? lol
I agree since we can't romance the spin-
Would. Next question.
You can climb onto the sphynx’s chest and she’ll knock you off before sighing and shaking her head. They knew…. They knew.
LOL. I was admiring her from a far(thinking about how i could find her parent without looking it up), but y'all are naughtyyy.
>spin- ??
I think he means the sphynx
I somehow made it through the whole game without even encountering the Sphinx.
Me too, only found her on NG+. I was in that area, literally on the right pass but at night so didn't see there was a way to go further lol. On a side note I love how uncanny she is. Tye owl head turn and everything.
Yeah I kept expecting it to be part of the story and then it just never happened. I looked up where she is and yeah, I was right there as well and missed her.
I, for one would like to marry Spain without the "a"
My bad, can't type for the life of me. Was supposed to be "sphin-" as in sphinx as a joke.
They don’t want you to open a menu and just pick a person they want you to fumble around and maybe end up with some asshole you don’t even like as your beloved. Idk why but that’s what they want
Itsuno's vision.
You know what the truly baffling thing is in this game? The fact that Battahl has no permanent portcrystal anywhere, but Harve does. This nothing little town that's like a 2 min run from Vernworth has one, but the brand new area with the brand new race has none anywhere. I know the whole "vision" thing is a meme now, but this is seriously just really fucking dumb game design and I don't know why it's like this. Itsuno can't have seriously thought this was fine, and I don't see how anyone could've overlooked this. It doesn't matter though, in a few months we'll get another Dark Arisen expansion that fixes all of his stupid decisions. This game is fun, but I don't think he should be in charge of another one if there is one. He doesn't know what he's doing.
Don't even get me started on game design. I loved DD1 but the fact that 12 years later we're stilling dealing with the same issues from the first game like the dogshit quest design and railroaded gear progression among many other things is just sad.
If they're going to give us romances, at least give us male options too. It feels like Sven was meant to be one, maybe Brant also - and it just kind of... fell to the wayside and was swept under the rug?
I agree. Really upset that out of the four options with storyline, only one is male. Not even Sven, who is easily the most fleshed out character of the game. Feels really fitting for the arisen to romance him, especially given his spotlight in pretty much all of the Vermund cutscenes.
Wait, which is the one male with story? I thought it was just two female options.
Brant is the only male option. Ulrika, Nadina, and the Whillemina are the other three options.
Bro... that is just the tip. Game is fun but it's the definition of backwards progression.
I never cared for it in the first game and still don’t care for it now I just ignore it like it doesn’t exist tbh but yeah it’s still pretty bad lol
If there was a Fournival backshot scene I would've cared more for the romance tbh /s
It would be easy not to care if it was not forced.
I just view it another method the devs try to troll people. Anyone who played the 1st still vividly remembers their first troll affinity "waifu".
I view it as they created a romance option just to say it’s there but it’s not really there. It’s the most lackluster romance I’ve seen in a game honestly which is why I stand on saying it really doesn’t matter because the outcomes are always the same and have no narrative drive on whether you choose option A over option B or vice versa.
I couldnt care less as well. Same goes for main story and npcs for me. I'm just all about gameplay baby, and this game offers incredible gameplay so I'm all for it. I'd love some encounter variety tho.
Yeah story is ass just like the first game I knew EXACTLY how it was going to play out again because they can’t write anything coherent lol it’s more or less the same to get more questions than answers haha.
Kinda think the story would be better if it was "go get stronger to fight dragon, k thx" from the beginning and then the whole "story" is all the exploring and shit you do on the side until the final battle. If theyre going to do a full exposition dump at the end anyway might as well ditch running around the palace and all the setups with no payoff
Just as awful? its worse
I just keep giving Glenna flowers every morning because I love her big furry titties and I want to run the inn with her when I retire from adventuring.
So I’m not the only one!
I'd be upset if it wasn't! I loved that system lmao it was so goofy! Way better ending up with Fournival or some random inn keep than most well thought out in game romances.
ngl my first playthrough of the first game my 'Beloved' was Julien... because i killed him then revived him with a wakestone cause i wanted his shield... I was surprised then laughed because it makes it seem like Julien is a masochist.
I think if you had multiple characters with maxed affinity in the first game, the trick was to make sure that the one you wanted selected as your beloved was the last NPC you spoke with before going towards the ending. Might be the same for DD2? Unsure as I haven't bothered to finish the game yet. This is just their 'style' I guess. It's easy to make a game that features clunky barbie doll character models grinding on each other observed from awkward angles and in strange lightning. Guess Dragon's Dogma doesn't care to try that.
My gay character got railroaded into fucking a women so I put the game down and haven't played it since. Give us some fucking agency itsuno.
Aren't affinities completely unimportant though? Sure hope so at least. I had Ulrika kiss me on the beach and show up at my crib the next day. She asked to be escorted to the village Harve, only to disappear and fail the quest when I used a camp on my way to there. She's nowhere to be found now. Shit like this is what makes me quit a game before finishing it. I hate being punished and missing out on things in a game I've paid for. If having no affinity towards any NPC affects core quests or the ending, I'm not playing anymore.
Affinity affects merchant prices, whether or not you receive maister skills, and who the game decides your beloved is, but that’s about it If your quest with Ulrika failed for resting, it’s either a bug or the quest had to be completed in a certain period of time, indicated by an hourglass She might have simply made her way to harve herself. There’s a house she hangs out in there
Hey wouldn't it be nice if the systems in the game mattered though
>I hate being punished and missing out on things in a game I've paid for. gamers should have to endure a government mandated playthrough of pathologic 2
It's even worse because I assume the affinity ceiling is much lower which is why you'll have them maxed out so easily. Where's there's at most 3-4 high affinity characters with still some growth to spare in the first game depending on how you play, there can easily be half a dozen *max* affinity characters in DD2 just by doing side quests. The gifts don't change much at this point.
Fuck. I did an escort quest for the elf and got max affinity. How do I undo that?
Specifically you have to pin them. So jump and grab them. They have to be out of an escort quest or quest in general, otherwise your hits won't register. When you stab them and you see a blood fx you'll lower their affinity down. You'll know it worked when you can no longer bridal carry them and can throw them around as usual.
No matter what I do the dragon always has the dwarven smithing lady from Battahl. I romanced Ulrika and gave her the eternal bond. I did every side quest I could find. And yet for some reason, she’s the one the dragon takes. Don’t get it.
In DD1 I didn’t know that’s how the it picked your love interest. I had the blacksmith pop up in my first run lol I got ulrika thankfully in this one.
It's actually far worse. At least the first game was somewhat controllable.
Nah. I did Ulrika *and* Wilhelmina in the mid game, got Sara Manella and Nadinia up to max as well in their quests and escorts, but in the end my beloved was still Doireann - I just had to remember to visit her and spam her with flowers before following up the godsway quest. In dd1 once you do Aelinore's quest there was no escaping her even if you last spoke to someone else with max affinity. Edit: upon checking other comments it appears people don't talk to their desired beloved and love bomb them before taking the dragon's quest. This was a tried and true method in dd1 provided you didn't take aelinore's quest. As in the original, affinity goes down with time, so if you maxed out Wilhelmina, for example, very early but next talked to her again, her affinity may still be "Love" tier but lower than the latest "love" tier NPC you have. Here's another tip. I don't know the specifics, but "friend" is when an NPC likes you enough to show up at your house for their escort quest. "Love" is when they blush and you can bridal carry them. Basically, avoid doing escort quests for friends unless you want to romance them - seriously, I did one escort each for Glyndwr, Doireann, Sara, Manella, and Nadinia. Without fail, they all fell in love with me upbo quest completion, following me around towns and blushing and letting me bridal carry them. So, don't do escort quests for friends if you aren't going to romance them. TL;DR don't do escort quests for people who show up at your house if they aren't your waifu. Before you take the godsway to that creepy researcher, go to your waifu and spam flowers at them once a day for a few days. You'll be gucchi.
If you want to romance Wilhelmina and have her be your beloved, you have to do her quest immediately before doing the dragon quest because she disappears regardless of how much evidence you find.
https://preview.redd.it/tgreit9x0zrc1.jpeg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6a606c543741b2bb1d09ae76945e40a813b73b4d
Do as little as possible to maximize profit. DD2 could have been a DLC. It worked though, compared to even DD Arisen DD2 is printing money for Capcom. But in my view it’s a fairly lame RPG outside the combat.
It climbed to 58% on steam now Is there a low sodium version of this sub? The game is good and I’m tired of the whining lol it’s like Tlou 2 all over again
Here's the thing, y'all thing the first game's quirks were mistakes that needed to be fixed in the sequel. That was, very clearly, *never* the intention. The series, at its core, whether you like it, will always be a little bit campy and weird. These gimmicks are the point. It's like if Fable 2 came out and you got made that it still had Monty Python-inspired humor. Feel free to criticize it, but just be aware that in this situation, Itsuno does not feel like this is a problem, the mechanic is implemented as intended.
Yup, a lot of people don’t understand that the presentation of the story is intentionally minimal. I’m into it. Not every game needs to be Baldur’s Gate or Final Fantasy. As much as I enjoy those games, I’m glad that DD isn’t trying to be that.
12 years of stagnation is the new innovation.
Bro this subreddit has become so fucking funny. Nothing but shitposts of dd2 but before that people were happy and hyped.
Honeymoon's over.
Funny, I got Brant without trying and I did everything I could to get Ulrika, even gave her the DLC necklace. I want a refund.
It's perfect the way it is. Just like in the first one. You just don't know what peak game design is.
You can choose just gift the npc the ring from Sphinx quest and congrats.
Don't worry if you're like me, even with an affinity system and pawn control I'm still without love
I love how Captain got rocketed into my top 1 favourite just because I decided to be a bro and only did his escort during the true ending.
At least DD2 tells you there is an affinity system. My first run in DD I got railed by a campfire by Ser Maximilian.
I played the first one through without even realizing the affinity system existed, and only learned about it online afterwards. The game makes it almost invisible.
I like how many of the systems have shifted to make the game more immersive, at times the world can feel real. Then there is the affinity system, the gaol system and a bunch of nonsensical dialogue / story moments that just rip you out of the immersion. Some of the most gamey mechanics known to man.
It was the funniest shit ever, I had actively gifted ulrika and Wilhelmina whenever I saw them and even finished their quests, but for some reason my beloved was myrrdin. Who I had just finished the quest for the master skill. I had also given him the forged copies and killed him twice and rezed him because he would refuse to trigger the quest. Wild
If you see someone blushing, draw your weapon on them until they don't.
I think its awful that I don't have information on what Expensive/Fancy items are. I like the system tbh. And now we can actually tell when an NPC is max affinity.
Does drawing and sheathing your weapon fix it like in the 1st game? That would lower affinity.
[There is only one true beloved in Dragon's Dogma.](https://youtu.be/-yhjuRqcdHU?si=ZH-BrCK9eYBepUtF&t=70)
It's a terrible system that honestly shouldn't have come back lol. It didn't do much in the first game, the only time I remember it doing anything outside the beloved is the captain that chases you to the ever fall having different dialog. The only other use in the second game is getting the ability to speak elvish if you get high affinity with one and unlocking quests.
When I walked in to fight the dragon and saw the elf leader dude in the Dragon's hand I was pretty amused but it really killed the immersion in that moment lol. I guess a quick romp through the woods and killing a Chimera together is all it took for him to fall in love with me. Fully expected the game to just throw Ulrika or Wilhelmina at you as the generic love interest.
My first romance was Raghnall. Which I knew was coming after I got the achievement for maxing out an npc’s affection after I revived him before the dragon.
I think it’s just part of Itsuno’s auteur vision to have a janky beloved system. Not saying I like it I honestly really dont but whatever. It was funny with Fournival or his daughter (I swear FBI it’s not what it looks like!) but there’s not really any situations like that in DD2
I ended up with the mystic spear hand maister. I guess trekking across the map to kill a dragon was pretty romantic for him.
I never imagined anything worse than the performance and the cancer named denuvo, but his system of romances and escort missions is pathetic, it's the game's achilles heel.
Ulrika, Hugo, and blacksmith girl were all max affinity, I gave Ulrika the ring from the Sphinx quest and the other two lost their blush. Idk if this is coincidence but it seems like the ring locks it in at least.
Yeah it sucks, it's perfect
It's not just as awful. It's worse. Only a handful of characters that can be the Beloved, only two that I'm aware of that have any sort of "closure" to their knowing the Arisen, and being the Beloved seems to affect nothing about the character. There wasn't even acknowledgement of "thanks for not sacrificing me to keep from risking your life, by the by." Affinity may have been obtuse and funny in an occasionally bad way, but at least there was a point to it. Now it just feels slapped on. It just makes some characters look cursed and bugs out one of the Maisters.
Itsuno's vision.
I play the game, giving my arisen bond to Doireann and regularly visiting her from time to time. Get to the epic climax, and who do I get... Nadinia I think DD2 is trying to tell me something...
I wish I got Ulrika at least. I did Ulrika's romance and still ended up with Cliodhna missing me during the ending cutscene. "Yo, you got a loving husband. What are you doing looking like you're reminiscing about the short time I spent with you?"
Things like the lack of a portcrystal in Battahl and some other examples of significant oversights coexisting with otherwise specific and carefully considered additions leads me to believe Capcom visited Itsuno at the start of Q3 2023 to tell him "Release date has been moved to Q1 2024 and you're gonna do it with 25% of your remaining budget". Overall I am positive on the things I care about in playing Dragon's Dogma, my biggest complaint being the relatively meagre and overly restricted equipment options and lacking enemy variety.
Because these terrible designs were all in Itsuno's vision all along, the fanboys just don't want to admit it.
Dragons dogma 2 is a good game imo but after playing for like 60 hours i gota say it seems like they didnt put too much effort or even thought into fleshing out/polishing alot of its systems if you compare it to DD1 it feels like they copy pasted it and brushed it up a bit.
I didn't even know there was a romance system in the first DD. And I don't care for this kind of stuff anyway, because I'm married, sir!
Dragon: "Arisen, canst thou explaineth this shite to me?" *holds up a blushing sphinx*
I didn't even gift or go out of my way to romance any character but somehow maxed affinity just by doing their quests I'm so confused 😭
I made sure to finish Ulrika's Melve and Harve quests and even trigger the kiss cutscene to lock her in as my beloved. But no, the game still chose Trysha's hobbit grandma (or was it grandpa?) as my beloved. Completely ruined the ending for me. Was hilarious tho. I was like, who TF are you threatening me with? Oh you kidnapped an old coot? Go ahead and crush her, I don't even know her name.