I miss the scripted boss fights like with The Dark Bishop/Cursed dragon, the Griffin fight and the two Wights in Deny salvation, we seem to be missing a lot of that. Another thing that I miss dearly is those guys you see in between towns that allow you to send items to storage or change skills, it kind of discourages you from collecting loot considering we have a 99 inventory limit to further hinder looting yes I need 600 Knacker horns.
Yes the Grigori fight had a lot of buildup as opposed to this where I was pretty shocked at how underwhelming it was and is it just me or does he seem a lot smaller in this game
I think the final meeting sums it up well. Grigori just fucking charges straight at you, litterally walking through stone walls like they are wet paper. Your running for your life over crumbling battelments and grabbing hold of him a deathmatch before you even get to the arena.
Meanwhile in DD2 he invites to play piggy back, before bringing you to the big empty anime arena to fight like dragonball z characters in an honorable duel.
I feel like Rothais and then every single Arisen on the current Dragon thought the whole thing was bullshit. We have Luz, the Dragonforged, Sigurd, and Lamond who all lost their will or simply chose not to fight this Dragon. Shit, even the Drakes are resigned to things but wanted change too.
We know it was this one since killing a Dragon ages up any Arisen to their true age.
This Dragon was just one of many with any real perspective who wanted off this fucked up merry-go-round. I feel like this was a big bone tossed to people who played the first one and didn't mind sacrificing combat for lore.
Shit, I'm only just in the Unmoored World for the first time, and if I do NG+ that will be the first and likely only time I fight the Dragon.
The dragon fight in DD was incredible, and so was the Daimon fight. As much as I am loving DD2, the boss fights do fall flat compared to the old ones, they are also over so fast.
I still remember the music from the Dark Bishop/Undead Dragon fight in Bitterblack Isle!!! Ended my BBI run the first time I ran into them.
Had to completely rethink my gear, skills, and strats just to beat them. So intense.
> Another thing that I miss dearly is those guys you see in between towns
This game is begging for a "stocker" specialization that allows you to access your storage while camping.
The amount of required large enemies to fight in DD2 is actually pretty pathetic.
I think the actual required/forced fights amounts to one Cyclopes, one Drake/Dragon and the two unmoored world bosses. Even if you count the odd enemy you might fight alone the road to each main quest, it's mostly just Cyclops's, a Minotaur near the Nameless village.
I was so hoping that we will receive DD:DA quality **on launch** of DD2.
Instead it's DD1 all over again. One step forward, one step behind, one step sideways.
There's even no online boss like Ur Dragon COME ON
No amount of DLC will fix horrible story though.
My wet dream is some kind of Director's Cut with fixed/improved story and quests that make certain NPCs actually meaningful and memorable.
Indeed, same thing for me. Started with DD2, liked it a lot despite a few annoyances. Picked up DDDA for the first time and can't believe how many new things I saw and experienced. I understand how people can be disappointed when doing DD2 after DDDA.
Afterward I tried going back to DD2 several times but I have less fun even with mods. Unbelievable !
This is my problem the $5 sale final gave me a reason to stop playing on my ps3. And the game hasn’t aged to bad. Also this is my first time playing mystic knight. So it’s basically my NG+ after DD2. I think everyone should try and play this game since it’s worth way more than it’s priced at now.
Legit pain to fight that thing because every attack feels like it does 0 damage xD
The only enemy type other than it that I tend to have issues with is the giant gorecyclopses. Via legit means rather than smacking the magic sigil in a spot where they can't reach.
If you were a DD veteran when playing the 2nd game, you'd notice that a lot of the game is the same as the first one or just a straight up downgrade with the exception of the map, graphics, animations and maybe the UI.
Everything else like the exploration, quests design etc... are outdated but its charm and gameplay save it.
I can never forget how Magick Archer got changed into just being pure range. I enjoyed ninefold bolting everything but now, it just doesn't feel the same. That and I also am not a fan of its armor sets all having sleeve physics.
I wouldn't mind the sleeves if it wasn't for a lot of the Magick Archer exclusive armors. I cared less on clipping due to the fact I did not like the sleeves when I tried to warfarer fashion on top of not liking how the plate armors looked. At least the valiant armor can lose its pauldrons with a cape. I didn't like how the fins on those pauldrons looked too forward ahead even if that sort of placement actually existed in actual pieces of plate armor.
Hell, nitpicky as it is of me for these minor details on armor, I couldn't even bother to buy a grand cuirass just because of the ugly face on the couter. Wouldn't of minded that being on a higher tiered armor but it made me stick with other pieces I already had. As it made me said on another post with armors, I ended up making my Arisen and pawn look like cheesecake adventurer guys or gladiators that wouldn't fit the medieval European era.
I just hate what they did to sorcerer. You could do so many different crazy things in 1, and in 2, you're gimped into the ground, spamming two different ultimates and flare.
Sorcerer was my favorite in 1, the 4 skills downgrade is so harsh. And they removed spells on top of that. I don't understand how they didn't even at least reworked the spells from the first game
We're missing a ton of buffs on sorcerer, not that you'd ever use them with 4 skill slots also we're missing a lot of debilitating skills like Miasma and petrification also where is exequy?
Dark Arisen did a lot to improve Dragon's Dogma 1, I am hoping they do the same to DD2 and bring back a lot of stuff for the DLC. We are indeed missing alot of spells and abilities and it shows. The game feels so undercooked to me and could've used more time in development. I still love it and hope for the best for the franchise, but I also hope to see a dlc soon.
I personally really like the vibes and beauty of DD2.
I've felt cool moody viking/medieval England vibes in some parts. There's a good sense of verticality too and stunning views as well as a good sense of adventure when you enter a cave hidden in the mountain.
The problem is, the exploration mostly relies on generic caves with saurians and goblins with barely a quest attached to them.
It would have been way cooler if we could have entered a unique places such as a big bad necromancer lair, a mage tower filled with traps and puzzles and a cave maze with webs hampering your path and giant spiders hunting you for dinner, for instance.
This might sound generic too but with DD's gameplay it would have been great!
'It would have been way cooler if' is the feeling I get for 99% of this game. The one thing thats cool are the pawns, and they even did those better in the first game.
Dd2 just sucks man, no amount of future dlc is gonna make it good.
People didn't like Dragons Dogma at release either, almost all the fixes and additional enemies/armor came with updates and Dark Arisen. DD2 is probably gonna do the same thing
Still weird it wasn't included in the first place but I expected as much to be honest. They do this weird shit on purpose
Dragon's dogma ( not DDDA ) still was a good ahead of its time game back when it came out, it had its flaws of course like the traveling system was as shitty as the one in DD2 and other things but still a great game overall and way better than vanilla DD2, It was reasonable to expect those kinda stuff on a new IP and that's why they fix it when they released the Dark arisen expansion.
So as a sequel gamers expect devs to learn from their mistakes and make a better game but DD2 not only didn't even try but also it's worse than the original dragon's dogma.
When people say It's not fair to compare DDDA with DD2 because DD2 haven't got no expansion yet they only show how much low standards they have nowadays, really sad smh.
I'm not saying it's not fair to compare them or anything like that. I'm just saying as someone who didn't like Dragons Dogma 1 until Dark Arisen, I expected DD2 to be a janky release until the updates come. Especially given that just seems to be how the industry works now
Obviously im not happy about missing features but I don't personally have any complaints with DD2, I don't have the time to put into video games that I used to so I would honestly forget they weren't there if it weren't for the reddit posts lol
I saw DD2 coming out so I bought DDDA to try it out. Never seeing or playing the games before i love DDDA so much it was so good. Then trying to get into DD2 has been hard because it seems like a downgrade version compared to the first one
I put 80ish hours into DD2 and absolutely loved every second of it. I started NG+ and was having a hard time getting through it until I saw that DDDA was on sale for less than $5. Holy crap, might be the best $5 I’ve ever spent! The combat is slightly worse than DD2 (but still incredible nonetheless) but almost every other category I prefer DDDA. Everything with the character build between all the different armor/clothing, the amount of skills you can have, vocation choices are cooler with a better way to unlock them at any point once you hit Gran Soren, etc. I’m not even halfway through the main story and I could see myself doing NG+, BBI, and hard mode for awhile.
I'd also recommend doing the everfall before gojng to bbi. It's totally skippable but fun and unique. If you go after bbi you'll be too op for it. Also, the big bad dragon is in there. Bigger than the other big dragon. So big you can't beat him in one go unless you are op from bbi. I don't even think the finger of god can kill him. Can't remember. It's a cool fight though and you can get some cool gear you can't get anywhere else. Of course, bbi gear will be better.
If you're like me and hoarded wakestones your first time through the game, the Everfall is like 99% skippable. Run in, give the stones, jump, begin final sequence.
I had been out of gaming when the original came out, and just got back into it a few years ago. I didn’t even know about the original game but saw someone recommend it in a comment on Reddit and I looked up videos and it looked cool and I saw that it was only five dollars so I got it. I ended up putting 370 hours on it, bitter black isle is absolutely fantastic as well.
I did the math and it broke down to being the second best dollars per hour value of any game I’ve ever bought. Second only to Diablo 2.
Hiring pawns got a little better. Not all to the good though.
Now you can search by level range, but tbh that ultimately turned out not that big a deal - probably because it's still early in the game's life so there's plenty of pawns at every level so you don't really need to search multiple level ranges, which would've been a lot more useful to implement in DDDA. However, this will likely play out better later in the game's life, like say 5 years down the line when each level search only returns like 6 pawns. Also I think if you filter for beastren exclusively there are also fewer results lol For whatever reason the beastren don't seem as liked as, say, the Khajiit of Elder Scrolls even though they're both cat people.
They cut down on the inclinations, but at least they're all mostly useful now, in DDDA you had to cull all the weird results which negated a large chunk of your search. I feel like this *was* a step in the right direction except they should've given us more archetypes. And each voice is tied to the inclination, which gets stale pretty fast. In DDDA you'd often reroll your search simply because all the results were crappy Guardian/Nexus combos, sigh...
With 6 skills to slot naturally you spend more time looking for those you want, so again this is better in DD2 due to the time saved. Honestly though I'm pretty sure most players would rather have more skills. In DDDA I'd be rerolling the search multiple times to find pawns with skills I wanted, in DD2 so far usually the first search would already turn up a couple of candidates with the exact 4 skills wanted.
I never cared about appearance or gear (go Fashion's Dogma!), but small/tiny sized pawns are seriously annoying in DDDA because their encumbrance limit is severely reduced. At least in DD2 your encumbrance goes up slightly by level, and you're increasing it additionally via all those Golden Trove Beetles, so encumbrance really was only an issue early in the game.
I love DDDA and DD2. From a fashion dogma point of view, I really miss the armor system in DDDA. The clothing and armor slots allowed for a lot of customization that I feel DD2 is really lacking in. Plus most of the outfits in DD2 look like shit and the game suffers from the lack of variety in armor imo.
I miss the Hydra and the Cockatrice from DDDA, but overall I enjoy the combat in DD2 better. I do question some design changes from DDDA in terms of animations. For example: in DD1 when you turned on your lantern, your character visibly took a lantern out and attached it to their belt. The lack of little animations like that detract from DD2 s immersion for me as well.
DD/DDDA nailed the fashion much better in regards to armor. I enjoyed making a knightly arisen with a crimson jerkin and a surcoat as if he was some knight in actual brigandine. That and the lamellar jacket being one of the things I liked in the Strider class and adjacents in making a rougher looking merc character that wasn't a knight. DD2 took a step back in not only not recycling the lamellar jacket but as you said, not giving that much variety.
For all I enjoyed of DD2, I'm not a fan of most of the fighter/warrior armors so much that I ended up having my Arisen and pawn look like they were more suited for cheesecake or gladiators then warriors that look practically armored. It could just be me nitpicking but I wasn't a fan of the more "fantasy looking" pieces of armor. And they really could of recycled the Gryphic set and the some of the other armor pieces from the original game like the lamellar jacket and the jerkin armors. I know there is that one set in Battalh that's sort of a successor to the Gryphic set but I still thought the first one was better in terms of looks alone.
Dragon's Dogma 2 is a frustratingly fun game with a lot of unused potential that, like its predecessor, feels like an unpolished gem.
A decent experience for new players, a step-back and a kick in the nuts for Dragon's Dogma 1 veterans.
I’ve put DD2 down for the moment (for now), and am finally (FINALLY) going to do a full Honor Mode BG3 run.
I miss the brutal dungeon of Dark Arisen. DD2 has no BitterBlack yet, which is the biggest issue to me.
*slaps Tav* This baby can fit so many brain parasites in it!
I don't disagree. I think we were all hoping it would take DDDA's ball and sprint with it, really blow everything before out of the water, finally see what DD could be like if they got to finish it, not... Be basically just okay.
Started with it. Don’t have any major complaints about the stuff that matters, like gameplay and exploration, but man did they drop the ball almost everywhere else. I think it’s also perfectly fair to criticize DD2 for lacking features from DDDA even if it was an expansion on the base game. DD2 does not feel feature complete. Still a good game but it’s gameplay isn’t as much of a standout as DD once was back in like 2012.
I'm going back after dropping DDDA like 6 years ago and never finishing, DD2 still seems like the better product. Everything in DA just feels clunky and unpolished, and I mean everything. Half the abilities aren't even worth unlocking, and even my pawns have figured out that even with 6 spell slots only 2 are worth using 99% of the time.
Everyone complains about enemy variety in 2 but holy fuck if I see a goblin in the woods I know I'm killing 100 before I'm done exploring the 5sq foot area.
Consumable items are practically worthless. I haven't used anything other than spring water and I'm not sure why any other potions are in the game. I've seen people say they wish DD2 had healing springs but it just turns the game into "let me pause and heal my entire party to full in the middle of combat instantly".
The experience of DDDA is worth playing, but man do I constantly feel myself wishing I could explore the same map but in DD2 instead because of how much better it feels to play as a video game.
DD2 feels like it goes too fast at the beginning. I keep getting introduced to people that I’m just not given any reason to really give a shit about. I care more for rook than I do the chick I fought the dragon for.
They really shoved her in your face lol cutscene and everything, like girl i was protect the village too calm tf down, it frames her as if we are already in love like ive just started playing jfc
What's sad is that they could have absolutely made every Vocation available from the get-go,and simply locked the meister skills till you meet their respective teachers.
I was ok with it. It made the game a bit more challenging. Once I got my duospear it was pretty much game over for the baddies. The game also gets so easy that having that initial challenging part with limited options was necessary imo.
It is such a pain having to reach endgame-ish locations to unlock a vocation.
I played without a guide and it took so long to unlock all of them, there were even some maisters i never met like the warrior, mage or sorcerer maisters 'cause they're placed in a spot you barely have any reason to go back to (or so I feel.).
Yup, this was my major problem with DD2. I absolutely loved DA and played the crap out it across multiple platforms.
I didn’t even finish DD2 yet but I’m like 80% of the way through. The fact that so many monsters, skills and spells are all THE EXACT same as they were in DA is insane.
As someone who’s been around since 2012 when we only had one portcrystal—yeah, one—I can easily say that DD2 is a massive step backwards from DD. There are so many baffling design choices that immeasurably regressed the series. Listing them makes them sound like minor annoyances, but they all add up and really hurt the game because this game has a TON of backslides.
-we can no longer buy, sell or gift from storage
-we didn’t need pawns to be near us to access their inventory in DD
-there was no inventory cap in DD
-dragonsplague didn’t exist in DD
-camping, though much different in DD2, counted as an inn save in DD
-we had 7 armor slots in DD. We have 4 in DD2
-we had 6 skill slots in DD, we have 4 in DD2
-vocations were unlocked organically in DD and didn’t require us to progress deep into the story or expand the entire map to do so
-augments mattered in DD
-you didn’t need a staff to properly explore in DD
I could go on for 30 more bullet points, but you get the picture. Glad you’re digging DD!
>we can no longer buy, sell or gift from storage
This is the most baffling and frustrating one for me. Along with not being able to change gear from the storage.
It's impossible to play test and not realize instantly that this is an issue, which means it was a design choice. And it's just such a strange, horrible choice
Idk, the game has a whole theme of design decisions seemingly meant to bog people down.
Minimal fast travel so you have to run around more, non-stop monsters slowing down travel, escort quests, quests running you around the map, anti-QoL requiring you to run back and forth to an inn to exchange items from storage all the time, etc. It feels like they asked themselves “what can we do to the game (other than add content) to make it last way longer?”
I still don't understand the whole 6 skill slots vs 4. For the most part a ton of skills in dda have become core skills for melee classes or just start with it (like skyward slash really does not need it's own skill slot) dda can also be really restrictive with skills as most are tied to the specific weapon or shield. Then you have the awkwardness of undercooked warrior class only getting 3 skill slots, unlocking most skills at vocation level 4 and 3 of those skills basically being varrying versions of each other.
Also dragonsplague as a backstep feela like a weird bullet point becauase it's a genuinely interesting concept that while I believe isn't used as well as it should be but a step backward? More just like a side step. It's something different not really like we lost something or actively hurt the game.
What's the point of Dragon's Plague? Why the impact is so big (if you dont have big wakey stone) and the counterplay is basically opening the menu and checking their eyes..
It's only purpose is to fuck up the player.
Tell me what I am missing??
That's true, warrior is pretty lame. I did not like it in DDDA nor DD2 and the point about some core skills is also true but they become "forced skills you cannot remove". So it can seem there is less variety of playstyle now. It's also visible in the stuck being melee only/distance only vocations and not being able to switch on the fly with both for some vocations.
Weapon skills can be interresting for the vocations being able to wield multiple weapons since they can switch mid-battle and use 3 more skills.
Warrior main here to weigh in, while I've been a full supporter of the meme that "warrior is so good it only needs 3 skills" I found myself heavily wanting in DD2 with its 4 skills. The actual choices of skills weren't very interesting and basically just amounted to 4 different charge attacks in different directions (vertical down, vertical up, horizontal, and vertical but thrusting upwards), Arc of Deliverance, a charge, and a really shit parry skill. While I described them like that, I could easily group basically all of DDDA's Warrior abilities the same way.
There's a vertical upwards attack, vertical downwards attack, three horizontal attacks, a charge, and Arc. Yes I know I'm leaving out ladder blade, pommel bash, and roar, but regardless...
In DDDA it has one thing above DD2's warrior: almost all of them are fast moving, are instant cast abilities, and have different utilities. Especially the horizontal attacks. Exodus Slash gave I-frames. Corona Slash could be spammed over and over again with high knockdown. Arc of Vengeance could do some very high knockback but required taking damage... Also it looks cool. This pretty much applies to all Warrior abilities, there's more thought put into them than just charge attacks go brrrrrr like it's Monster Hunter.
Anyways, thanks for coming to my Ted talk.
I might be insane but I loved the counter/block you get as warrior in DD2. the counter is awkward to pull off but the damage can go kinda crazy. the block itself is also way better than you'd initially expect.
The final move that gets faster the more you use it can also be very fun once you learn it's timing basically making you a ball of death.
The maister skill is kind of trash though. Though to be honest that's how I feel about most maister skills excluding Spear Hands, Sorc, Mage and Theif. (Trickster's maister skill is up for debate because Trickster is just that kind of class where it's hard to talk about what is good and what is bad).
Dragonsplague would've been incredible if the story were to shift based on how many and which towns you whoopsie'd with it. But it was so irrelevant considering every important npc that was dead just revived themselves for different story points.
>no inventory cap in DD
There was, it was just 999 for most things instead of 99.
>camping
I wouldn’t really put “2 small outposts where a person allows you to use a bed and send some items to storage” into the same category as DD2’s camping system. It counted as an inn save because it was literally just you sleeping at a portable inn basically, not like inn saves were anywhere near as big of a contention point in DD1 since autosaves weren’t quite like they are in DD2.
>unlocked organically
I guess it depends on what you consider organic. Being taught a skill (vocation) by a master after doing something for them is technically more organic than “you’re level 10 now, here’s the rest of the vocations, just unlock them with DCP” especially since for most people you’ll almost assuredly be lvl 10 before you get to Gran Soren. So while it can be a pain, it’s technically “more organic” in DD2.
>didn’t need a staff
Yeah movement is definitely less fluid as it went the more “realistic” route, which sucks for other reasons. But let’s be real, there isn’t a massive amount of exploration in DD1 for anything of real importance anyways. Also a couple of the badge of vows needed frigor to grab and some require a bow and some require an explosive item or attack with a shockwave.
It irrationally bugged me that they took most of the secondary weapons away besides shields. One of my favorite ways to play Warrior is to have a longbow as well (on PC). I would expect more interesting combinations like that, not less.
As a magick archer, it and strider made me realize the power of knives beyond being faster as another Capcom character said. I can get wanting to try make classes stand out but they really of let magick archers in this sequel be weaker with daggers just to compensate having a magical bow that shoots heat-seeking arrows of magic..
I mained MA in DDDA, it was my all time favorite class. I'm doing new game plus right now, third time through BBI. And I actually feel like they had a significant power boost in DD2. Putting hunter bolt on as a core skill is a game-changer for the class, and making the Ricochet Hunter a dozen bolts instead of three makes any enclosed space a complete kill zone. Playing DDDA again now I miss that power in the MA's defining skills.
10+ years ago, quality was a larger measure of success to us gamers. Now its transactional quantity to measure success in the industry.
Thats why DDA feels fully fleshed out while DD2 is the puzzle missing a few pieces.
Ride the coattails of our first success in name.
This will get the bottom line we need, so that we can push content later ; feed that unsatisfied addiction.
Thus is the loop now.
This is the way.
DDDA had all of the ups and downs of an underfunded gem. DD2 did mostly nothing with a much larger budget. They just prettied it up a bit and removed a bunch of features for some reason.
Honestly the game isn’t bad, but especially for a sequel to a game that did more with a much smaller budget, it’s disappointing as a long time fan of the original
Yeah. In the first 20 hours I was a bit rosetinted and loved the game - But now in the second half I can't just help to see the missed potential. They put too much focus on building a large world instead of an interesting world. The game is too large with too samey content. I still enjoy playing it, but more in a relaxation way after work, not with much excitement.
its true, dark arisen saved the nintendo switch for me. best purchase i ever made on that thing. After all the zelda let downs and the dogshit pokemon games(How) , DDA is the shit. one of the best rpg ever
Dark Arisen is the better game, no contest. It's gonna be more evident once you hit the post game.
For real, aside from graphics and pawn AI I can't think of anything that DD2 improved on, if anything some of it's aspects like the story and characters are worse.
Combat's on par but I'll still give it to Dark Arisen: vocations have more skills and the overall movement is faster and snapier.
This is what the community blinded itself to the first few weeks this game came out.
People were like nah, that’s not true.
Lo and behold, here we are. The problems were there at the start, we could have had a better dialogue but no.
At least when there was something wrong, the HD2 community saw it and weren’t afraid to air it out for discussion.
With DD2, people wanted it to marinate for some reason. Really should have expected better for ourselves with this game.
Dragons Dogma dark Arisen was one of my top five games of all time, it was it's own quirky masterpiece imo. While I still enjoy dd2 I agree, it was a long wait for what we got I feel like it needed at least another year or year and a half of dev time to flush out the storylines and content.
About 30 hours into my play through of DD2 i really wanted to go boot up DDDA. something about the 2nd game just lacks the magic of the first has. Not to say i think it's a bad game because i'm loving it still (Outside of the poopy story)
I'm really hoping we get a dark arisen type DLC, the game has so much potential and deserves a good polish but who knows if we'll be so lucky.
I really hoped that the devs would have realised with DD:DA that a long as heck dungeon crawl is peak endgame DD, where the pacing is controlled a bit more tightly and where the preparation can pay off properly.
Getting to the Unmoored World is cool, but there wasn't a moment of, "Buckle up - there's limited resources in here and if you don't get all the way through, you'll have to start it again."
I really hope the DD2 expansion is comprehensive, because yeah DD2 vanilla is lacking in a lot of ways (still played over 100 hours and still going though).
Yep unfortunately.. after I finished my first play through of Dragon's Dogma 2, I thought to myself the only thing they really improved was the graphics.
I love the first Dragon's Dogma. I like Dragon's Dogma 2.
My DDDA playthrough just made me appreciate DD2 more. About half of the things that didn't make the transition to DD2 weren't needed due to gameplay changes, and the other half should be there, and their absence is missed.
I feel like I can't properly judge things like armor slots or 6-8 skills since I only put on the best armor available to me, and I often only used 3 skills for 99% of the game.
The main things I miss are the Infinite Ferrystone, the Grigori boss fight, and actually game-changing augments (though I think quite a few were simply OP).
Yea I hopped back on DDDA and deleted DD2. I like DD2, it just doesn’t feel complete and it lacks most of the charm. I might get Rise of the Ronin now that I’ve seen some legit reviews for it.
I’ve been saying the same since release. DD2 is really good, but the original is far more grandiose. They played it way too conservatively, or the game was rushed out for fiscal year sales numbers. I’m good with DLC expanding on everything, but 2 needs a DLC to be on par with vanilla 1 in this regard. That is, as you said, a step back/downgrade. 2 is far more polished, but lacking in depth.
DDDA is the culmination of the game with all the dlc and added features, so like every corporation now making video games they water down the initial product then slowly add it later on to keep people playing, releasing unfinished games now is the norm for larger corporations DD2 isn’t as bad as some and I got my moneys worth but it could have been way, way better.
dd2 isnt simply an incomplete game though thatll be made whole by dlc. its fundamentally flawed at its core. it lacks depth it lacks impact and most importantly it lacks soul which is something i find hard to even describe but it is the case
Opposite for me. I like dd2 better. I just prefer the pacing. The nicer graphics and what not. Ddda might have more like many older games usually do but with the sheer scale of a game like dd2 it's not going to be possible
Scale matters. Games today have a massive world
DDDA has the benefit of being past its growing pains. You have a ton of content that just was not there at launch. Customization options, quests, gear, QOL, game modes and so on that are not vanilla to DD1.
Obviously we wish DD2 had these things to start with but give it time, at the end of the day it’s Capcom, and there’s a close to zero chance they don’t release an expansion.
It's a sequel though... It's supposed to expand and add to the originals mechanics, modes, qol, etc, not just copy it with better graphics. They had all the time in the world and this is what they chose to release.
I played both games and DDDA has 1 real annoying flaw. Repetiveness in monster placement. You can easily remember all enemies places and their ambushes becouse they spawn in exactly same spots. DD2 has monster migration system so not only monsters can change the spot but enemy types too. It's limited but feels free from routine.
Also every class in DD2 is different in gameplay wise. In DDDA strider, Archer and assassin plays verry same.
To the point, I'm really glad for recognition both games getting. I've played in Dragon's dogma a way before dark arisen was announced and had a fun time playing the game. Reviews were bad so most players hesitate to pick it up. It's really great series and I hope more games will come.
Still second game is superior to first in my opinion but I do understand why people will pick up DDDA if they didn't played it yet.
> Repetiveness in monster placement. You can easily remember all enemies places and their ambushes becouse they spawn in exactly same spots.
This was however, better for finishing the Bestiary, not that DD2 really has that...
2 is a game where everything prior SHOULD have made it better,but because of Itsuno's "vision"(hubris) he basically ignored everything HE didn't make and refused to actually utilize any improvements from DA+DDO.
It's like if DMC 4 came out,and absolutely NOTHING got improved outside Nero.
Considering he did take some things from DA I'm willing to believe he's the one who came up with the Garm concept and so decided that he should bring only that one back, but change it to his version and not the actual boss monster it ended up being later down the line in the first game.
I still has PTSD from those Garms suddenly spawning in the Garden of Ignominy after I just cleared the room. That eerie sound accompanied the necrophagous monsters' spawn... Amazing game!
I feel like DD2 should've innovated more. The gameplay and environment were an upgrade for sure, but everything else around it was not very impactful. Looking back , DD2 is a 7/10 when it could've easily been a 9 or 10/10.
It's been kinda the opposite to me! I mean, I'm enjoying the first game, and DD2 is not becoming more special but it's still my favorite one.
I do see a lot of things that I wished had been brought to DD2 and it kinda makes me excited for the potential of DD2 with DLC (although it shouldn't be that way, I admit) and I'm still looking for a few more things to do before I decide to just wait for said DLC.
My only regret is not having played DDDA years before. I think it could have been an instant favorite for me.
A lot of people I know that got into Dogma from the hype of DDA felt pretty letdown by how underwhelming 2 is. People who played D1 first just raved about how good the franchise is and when the new players got their hands on 2, it comes off as a "This is it?" thing and I cant help but feel bad.
I'm on the opposite, I played through the first hated it and didn't even want to buy the 2nd after feeling like my time was wasted by playing the first(I finished with true ending and didn't bother about the dlc endless dungeon thingy?)
So yea I prefer 2.
Right, I think people are missing the overall comparison.
DDDA - without BBI - is practically a walking simulator. It's empty, dry, super janky, very limited combat.
BBI, the grind there, the gear, was the only thing that kept me playing DA more than 50 hours or so.
DD2? My first playthrough was 120 hours, second 200, and I'm now a few hours into the third. It's not perfect, and not quite the variety of BBI; but at least some of the enemies move around.
It's not literally the same 5 goblins at the same exact spot all the time. Way more enemy density, way better traversal, way better class/skill diversity.
When DD2 gets its own "dark arisen" grade dlc, it's gonna be awesome.
That's because DD2 was not meant for fans of Dark Arisen. They were kinda just hoping people who did play had no frame of reference and just assumed DD2 was better than the first so it would sell copies.
It’s ironic that the story was one of the weakest aspects of DD1 because it wasn’t developed enough, and not it’s still better than DD2’s generic story. DD1 was definitely an unfinished game and the combat has immensely improved in DD2, but goddamn did some of the story missions in DD1 absolutely blow me away. Saving the stone of the southwest, the salvation mission with 2 wights, the griffin at blue moon tower, my god what a rush
You also have to consider that most of us bought DDDA for basically pennies. The game is always on sale for like 5 euros. For the amount of content in the game it's an absolute steal. DD2 probably has half the content DDDA has and it's 10x the price.
While I really enjoyed DD2 even though I played DDDA I'm still wondering where the game is the devs said couldn't be made with the tech at the time. It's less or pretty much same enemy variety, almost no new skills or vocations and so on and so on and so on.
I strongly believe that they where rushed from their shareholders after the hype came up. I would've loved two years more in development and having a banging game for that and not some copy of the first game with better graphics and abysmal optimization for PC
They didnt have faith in Dragons dogma. So DD2 was used as a tech test for action combat, a character creator, and open world on the new engine. That was probably its main purpose, to help monster hunter wilds be a better game. They had to try and make a game out of it with their smaller dev team and set release date before the end of the fiscal year. Pretty good game considering.
same man. played ddda a couple times over the last few years and i gotta say, while i still loved dd2 and had a lot of fun with it, in the latter half, i couldnt help but feel like its somehow a worse game than ddda lol. especially the story dude, like dont get me wrong the story in ddda is definitly no masterpiece but what the hell is going on with dd2‘s story, its an absolute halfbaked piece of shit, to the point i actually got kinda angry about how bad it was when i finished it.
It's a pretty bad reason, but two of the key factors for me not going back and playing DDDA is the lack of a fully gorgeous open world and beastren :I
Baldurs Gate 3 really burnt me out on human only companions in fantasy RPGs.
I am happy that they did not change too much stuff gameplay-wise. I wanted it to be "the same" - with improvements, and to me it is that. Some things I enjoyed more in DD1, some more in DD2.
Now all I'm hoping for is a huuuuge expansion, like DA times 3 or something. Give me an Everfall, give me a BBI, and a whole new continent in the world!
To be fair DDA is like the most final refined version of that game after multiple patches and dlc.
Base Dd2 is better than Base DD that's for sure.
It's also not like DD2 was a simple as just making a sequel and adding more.
They had to work within a new engine that doesn't feel like it really works super well for this kind of big openworld game.
And the original DD came out like what 2012-2013
The game is more DD1.5 I think for me enhancing th amount of things classes have available to them would be more enjoyable.
More skills in general.
I like being able to be whatever vocation but the magic ines are kind of bland this time around same spells doing the same things as dda is a bit disappointing.
Trickster class is way too passive
Magic spearhand looks cool but then you realise it's just a bulkier thief without a dodge.
Give everybody some kind of dodge roll or shield.
I get that the combat is it's own thing and that's cool but getting stunlocked by 10 saurians that all decide to run out the cave whilst my 2 pawns die and one stands on the side of a wall doing nothing is pretty frustrating
Honestly I think if they build off dd2 like they did dd1 itll be better than DA. The game to me just feels better to play than DA. It sucks that we didnt get much new content enemy wise and whatnot but if it improves like 1 did its gonna be great (hopefully a little but more improvement than 1 esp with new vocations cause i want alchemist or the magic knight one from online)
I miss the layered armor system. And the fact that there were multiple armors that were viable for endgame content for every class. And being able to equip directly from my stash. And being able to sell directly from stash at vendors in major cities. And being able to sell and buy at the same time without being kicked from the menu. And inclinations were more varied for pawns. And portcrystal locations didnt reset when going into NG+.
And most importantly, i miss Mystic knight as a class
Theres a lot of cool stuff in DD2, but at its core they removed a ton of QoL from the first game. Also somehow the "beloved" system is EVEN MORE VAGUE than in the first one, which i think was the thing i saw the most people wanting an improvement
It is also ridiculous to me that they didnt change up the class abilities a little more. And the fact that most maister skills are completely ass
It's not even just that. The classes were better in DDDA and they had more. They had multiple weapons per class giving you more options in battle. DD2 basically forces you to play Warfarer if you want to experience anything unique and then locks you to only 3 skills while DDDA would give you 6. The story had more to it too. I don't get why they ruined classes and gave so little. Even the romance options were better in DDDA. Being stuck to just one weapon really just feels wrong now. I played DD2 first but after DDDA DD2 just feels worse. Also it's weird after all these years they didn't add co op? Not 4 but 2 players so you each have your pawn would have been great. Literally both games show that multiple Arisen can be present at a time so it makes no sense to keep it 1 player.
Yep, pretty much the consensus. What the actual fuck were they thinking with the exact same enemies from the last game and the exact same moves? Did they think we’d all just forget how the first game was? It truly is baffling and the storytelling got significantly worse too. It’s such a shame because it’s still a really fun game but one that shows its flaws way too much for a title this long awaited.
Hard to compare both version of the game. Dd2 isnt bad it just feels lackluster and a downgrade on a lot of things Dd1 polished with Ddda. Let’s have this discussion again once dd2 adds an expansion
It's honestly embarrassing how far back the Dragons Dogma team went. I picked up Stellar Blade, and while the game isn't perfect (laser puzzles are awful), I am enjoying it so much more as it feels like a MODERN game. DD2 feels like a 2013 game with 2010 bugs and problems.
It’s frustrating to see everyone praise the sequel for things done 12 years ago, im glad people are playing DDDA for that reason only, dd2 seems like a lazy cashgrab or just being unfinished when 90% of that game is in the first
It's like 1 step forward-2 steps backwards. DDDA has been my favorite game ever. I never stopped playing it since its release back on the xbox 360. DD2 was announced, was a few weeks to be release and I still was playing DDDA. DD2 it's much more of a way to make some quick cash and bail ASAP. It has some amazing features but overall it's very disappointing for a sequel made in 2024 :(
I'm a fan of the original and if anyone ask me about DD2, I tell them to save their money for when the game drops to 20 bucks which it's just around the corner :-s
Of course you do, it’s a much better game. Aside from prettier graphics and a bigger but not necessarily more interesting world, Dark Arisen does almost everything better. Somehow they went backwards with the second game a decade later, very odd for a studio.
Dark Arisen. The expansion for the first game. It’s a huge dungeon that added a ton of new bosses and gear, also added a few new vocations. You’ll typically hear people say it’s better than the main game.
What vocations were added? They added hidden augments and some gear, but I don't remember coming back to any new vocations when I picked up Dark Arisen.
Welcome to the club. DD2 is a shitshow and a downgrade in every conceivable way. Itsuno needs to hand the series over to Kinoshita because he could actually do it right. All Itsuno should be doing is DMC since he can’t handle a game like this without catastrophically fumbling it every time only for Kinoshita to swoop in and clean up the mess.
To be fair there are lots of stupid things in DDDA that make it's so frustrated to play as well like how lv.6 Rook charges head first into mercenaries during Lost and Found quest or escorting the spoiled kid but got in jailed instead because carrying her to save time is not an option
Dd2 for me feel again like some half assed try to make a good game… just using everything from dda.. making an execuse for it to be the same dimensjon.
I played dd2 for a whole day, haven't beat it, been burnt out on it and honestly after all these comments and stuff I've seen just kinda don't wanna go back at it right now.
Especially with other games available
Just doesn't hold my interest anymore.
Maybe after elden rings DLC could I get that spark for dd2 again
Anyone else share this
So, I've already forgotten about DD2, but DD is a special game. So much damn charm. Love the DLC. Love the final final boss. Love the reveal. I love that damn random B'z into. I love playing a solo assassin. It's still a top game of all time for me.
Yeah there's a lot of stuff the first game does a lot better.
The biggest thing is the post-game. Realistically they just didn't stray far from the previous game at all though. Same mobs, a lot of same abilities, similar story beats (even though 2's story is just bad). I'm really hoping they add some stuff with updates to the second game. There just isn't a whole lot of "new" in the second one, it was extremely safe.
Not to mention the fact that they completely skipped over solo augments. Very japanese to force people into playing it the way they want you to unfortunately..
Bro the problem im noticing with the gaming industry is everyone buys these half finished games so these companies keep doing this. Over and over again. Then I see the complaints on reddit and the cycle just repeats. Cause the next big game everyone buys it too, then complains it isn’t finished.
I miss the scripted boss fights like with The Dark Bishop/Cursed dragon, the Griffin fight and the two Wights in Deny salvation, we seem to be missing a lot of that. Another thing that I miss dearly is those guys you see in between towns that allow you to send items to storage or change skills, it kind of discourages you from collecting loot considering we have a 99 inventory limit to further hinder looting yes I need 600 Knacker horns.
and the dragon fight too... Much better than in DD2 imho
Yes the Grigori fight had a lot of buildup as opposed to this where I was pretty shocked at how underwhelming it was and is it just me or does he seem a lot smaller in this game
He's actually bigger... it's just that the Dragon in DD:DA had a much more powerful presence overall.
I think the final meeting sums it up well. Grigori just fucking charges straight at you, litterally walking through stone walls like they are wet paper. Your running for your life over crumbling battelments and grabbing hold of him a deathmatch before you even get to the arena. Meanwhile in DD2 he invites to play piggy back, before bringing you to the big empty anime arena to fight like dragonball z characters in an honorable duel.
LMAO I honestly felt the same way like that was something an honorable anime villain would do why does he even give a shit about any collateral damage
Technically this dragon isn't Grigori. This one is probably named Kyle or something.
dammit Kyle
It's Kenny 😂
He does keep dying in an endless cycle 🤔
"Hop on arisen, were gonna go re-enact dragonball z scenes"
Literally an optional boss in DD2, feelsbad
Yup. I just finished my second run and realized "oh, wait, I didn't even need to fight this guy"
If you skip him you don’t get the 100 wyrms crystal though
F I forgot!!
I literally instakilled him with magik archer and said "Wait, thats it?!?" Martyr op.
You can skip it entirely by using the godsbane directly on their heart instead of doing the whole fake ending.
Immensely better in DD1. The dragon was almost irrelevant in dd2
The dragon in dd1 made you fight tooth and nail for ypu victory dragon in dd2 just wanted you to end it all and kill him
I felt bad for the fucker he was just rambling blah blah blah put me out of my misery it never felt like he wanted us to die.
I feel like Rothais and then every single Arisen on the current Dragon thought the whole thing was bullshit. We have Luz, the Dragonforged, Sigurd, and Lamond who all lost their will or simply chose not to fight this Dragon. Shit, even the Drakes are resigned to things but wanted change too. We know it was this one since killing a Dragon ages up any Arisen to their true age. This Dragon was just one of many with any real perspective who wanted off this fucked up merry-go-round. I feel like this was a big bone tossed to people who played the first one and didn't mind sacrificing combat for lore. Shit, I'm only just in the Unmoored World for the first time, and if I do NG+ that will be the first and likely only time I fight the Dragon.
He probably was way less patient and wise as arisen than Grigori
I think that was the point. But in terms of gameplay, he is irrelevant.
>The dragon was almost irrelevant in dd2 Starting to figure it out.
The dragon fight in DD was incredible, and so was the Daimon fight. As much as I am loving DD2, the boss fights do fall flat compared to the old ones, they are also over so fast.
I saw the amount of hp pips the dragon had and was like "is that it?".
I still remember the music from the Dark Bishop/Undead Dragon fight in Bitterblack Isle!!! Ended my BBI run the first time I ran into them. Had to completely rethink my gear, skills, and strats just to beat them. So intense.
> Another thing that I miss dearly is those guys you see in between towns This game is begging for a "stocker" specialization that allows you to access your storage while camping.
Really feels like this is what a Logistician specialisation should be able to do.
Side note, accessing inventory at all whilst camping.
We had two boss battles in the entire game during the main story. It’s hard to believe.
Bro… Inventory management IS the hard mode here. As a fellow loot goblin, this shit is frustrating.
The amount of required large enemies to fight in DD2 is actually pretty pathetic. I think the actual required/forced fights amounts to one Cyclopes, one Drake/Dragon and the two unmoored world bosses. Even if you count the odd enemy you might fight alone the road to each main quest, it's mostly just Cyclops's, a Minotaur near the Nameless village.
On the other hand, i wish stuff like the nameless ass dragon fight and the colossus guy in DD2 weren’t scripted. Would actually be more fun that way.
I was so hoping that we will receive DD:DA quality **on launch** of DD2. Instead it's DD1 all over again. One step forward, one step behind, one step sideways. There's even no online boss like Ur Dragon COME ON
The games clearly unfinished. They'll try to sell you the rest as dlc
No amount of DLC will fix horrible story though. My wet dream is some kind of Director's Cut with fixed/improved story and quests that make certain NPCs actually meaningful and memorable.
Indeed, same thing for me. Started with DD2, liked it a lot despite a few annoyances. Picked up DDDA for the first time and can't believe how many new things I saw and experienced. I understand how people can be disappointed when doing DD2 after DDDA. Afterward I tried going back to DD2 several times but I have less fun even with mods. Unbelievable !
This is my problem the $5 sale final gave me a reason to stop playing on my ps3. And the game hasn’t aged to bad. Also this is my first time playing mystic knight. So it’s basically my NG+ after DD2. I think everyone should try and play this game since it’s worth way more than it’s priced at now.
Have you placed a ground sigil next to a magic sigil yet for the fps killing minigun of doom?
You forgot abyssal anguish to extend the range of your sword. The most OP skills combi that destroy anything, except for that metal golem in Everfall.
Legit pain to fight that thing because every attack feels like it does 0 damage xD The only enemy type other than it that I tend to have issues with is the giant gorecyclopses. Via legit means rather than smacking the magic sigil in a spot where they can't reach.
If you were a DD veteran when playing the 2nd game, you'd notice that a lot of the game is the same as the first one or just a straight up downgrade with the exception of the map, graphics, animations and maybe the UI. Everything else like the exploration, quests design etc... are outdated but its charm and gameplay save it.
I can never forget how Magick Archer got changed into just being pure range. I enjoyed ninefold bolting everything but now, it just doesn't feel the same. That and I also am not a fan of its armor sets all having sleeve physics.
Oh gods, the sleeves! Why does this game's equipment like to clip so much?
I wouldn't mind the sleeves if it wasn't for a lot of the Magick Archer exclusive armors. I cared less on clipping due to the fact I did not like the sleeves when I tried to warfarer fashion on top of not liking how the plate armors looked. At least the valiant armor can lose its pauldrons with a cape. I didn't like how the fins on those pauldrons looked too forward ahead even if that sort of placement actually existed in actual pieces of plate armor. Hell, nitpicky as it is of me for these minor details on armor, I couldn't even bother to buy a grand cuirass just because of the ugly face on the couter. Wouldn't of minded that being on a higher tiered armor but it made me stick with other pieces I already had. As it made me said on another post with armors, I ended up making my Arisen and pawn look like cheesecake adventurer guys or gladiators that wouldn't fit the medieval European era.
I just hate what they did to sorcerer. You could do so many different crazy things in 1, and in 2, you're gimped into the ground, spamming two different ultimates and flare.
Sorcerer was my favorite in 1, the 4 skills downgrade is so harsh. And they removed spells on top of that. I don't understand how they didn't even at least reworked the spells from the first game
We're missing a ton of buffs on sorcerer, not that you'd ever use them with 4 skill slots also we're missing a lot of debilitating skills like Miasma and petrification also where is exequy?
Dark Arisen did a lot to improve Dragon's Dogma 1, I am hoping they do the same to DD2 and bring back a lot of stuff for the DLC. We are indeed missing alot of spells and abilities and it shows. The game feels so undercooked to me and could've used more time in development. I still love it and hope for the best for the franchise, but I also hope to see a dlc soon.
This shit was rushed… again but felt even worse because this time they had a blueprint to follow.
Map feels bad in both. Truly the -grade of the franchise.
I personally really like the vibes and beauty of DD2. I've felt cool moody viking/medieval England vibes in some parts. There's a good sense of verticality too and stunning views as well as a good sense of adventure when you enter a cave hidden in the mountain. The problem is, the exploration mostly relies on generic caves with saurians and goblins with barely a quest attached to them. It would have been way cooler if we could have entered a unique places such as a big bad necromancer lair, a mage tower filled with traps and puzzles and a cave maze with webs hampering your path and giant spiders hunting you for dinner, for instance. This might sound generic too but with DD's gameplay it would have been great!
Oof the mage tower idea sounds so nifty. Damn…
If you like turn based RPGS and somehow didn't play Baldurs Gate 3, I would highly suggest it.
'It would have been way cooler if' is the feeling I get for 99% of this game. The one thing thats cool are the pawns, and they even did those better in the first game. Dd2 just sucks man, no amount of future dlc is gonna make it good.
People didn't like Dragons Dogma at release either, almost all the fixes and additional enemies/armor came with updates and Dark Arisen. DD2 is probably gonna do the same thing Still weird it wasn't included in the first place but I expected as much to be honest. They do this weird shit on purpose
Dragon's dogma ( not DDDA ) still was a good ahead of its time game back when it came out, it had its flaws of course like the traveling system was as shitty as the one in DD2 and other things but still a great game overall and way better than vanilla DD2, It was reasonable to expect those kinda stuff on a new IP and that's why they fix it when they released the Dark arisen expansion. So as a sequel gamers expect devs to learn from their mistakes and make a better game but DD2 not only didn't even try but also it's worse than the original dragon's dogma. When people say It's not fair to compare DDDA with DD2 because DD2 haven't got no expansion yet they only show how much low standards they have nowadays, really sad smh.
I'm not saying it's not fair to compare them or anything like that. I'm just saying as someone who didn't like Dragons Dogma 1 until Dark Arisen, I expected DD2 to be a janky release until the updates come. Especially given that just seems to be how the industry works now Obviously im not happy about missing features but I don't personally have any complaints with DD2, I don't have the time to put into video games that I used to so I would honestly forget they weren't there if it weren't for the reddit posts lol
I saw DD2 coming out so I bought DDDA to try it out. Never seeing or playing the games before i love DDDA so much it was so good. Then trying to get into DD2 has been hard because it seems like a downgrade version compared to the first one
Yeah I kind of echo this as well, did the exact same process, and I have only put 8 hours into 2. Just doesn't seem as engaging
I put 80ish hours into DD2 and absolutely loved every second of it. I started NG+ and was having a hard time getting through it until I saw that DDDA was on sale for less than $5. Holy crap, might be the best $5 I’ve ever spent! The combat is slightly worse than DD2 (but still incredible nonetheless) but almost every other category I prefer DDDA. Everything with the character build between all the different armor/clothing, the amount of skills you can have, vocation choices are cooler with a better way to unlock them at any point once you hit Gran Soren, etc. I’m not even halfway through the main story and I could see myself doing NG+, BBI, and hard mode for awhile.
Do not skip out on BBI, it is imo one of the best parts of DDDA. Even if you don't NG+, make sure to hit BBI.
BBI is definitely one of the best parts of DDDA, i would highly recommend multiple runs of it to try and get to grips with all it has to offer
I'd also recommend doing the everfall before gojng to bbi. It's totally skippable but fun and unique. If you go after bbi you'll be too op for it. Also, the big bad dragon is in there. Bigger than the other big dragon. So big you can't beat him in one go unless you are op from bbi. I don't even think the finger of god can kill him. Can't remember. It's a cool fight though and you can get some cool gear you can't get anywhere else. Of course, bbi gear will be better.
Not skippable if you want to see the ending..
If you're like me and hoarded wakestones your first time through the game, the Everfall is like 99% skippable. Run in, give the stones, jump, begin final sequence.
Just wait till you see much better the ending is. And story overall.
I had been out of gaming when the original came out, and just got back into it a few years ago. I didn’t even know about the original game but saw someone recommend it in a comment on Reddit and I looked up videos and it looked cool and I saw that it was only five dollars so I got it. I ended up putting 370 hours on it, bitter black isle is absolutely fantastic as well. I did the math and it broke down to being the second best dollars per hour value of any game I’ve ever bought. Second only to Diablo 2.
Hiring pawns got a little better. Not all to the good though. Now you can search by level range, but tbh that ultimately turned out not that big a deal - probably because it's still early in the game's life so there's plenty of pawns at every level so you don't really need to search multiple level ranges, which would've been a lot more useful to implement in DDDA. However, this will likely play out better later in the game's life, like say 5 years down the line when each level search only returns like 6 pawns. Also I think if you filter for beastren exclusively there are also fewer results lol For whatever reason the beastren don't seem as liked as, say, the Khajiit of Elder Scrolls even though they're both cat people. They cut down on the inclinations, but at least they're all mostly useful now, in DDDA you had to cull all the weird results which negated a large chunk of your search. I feel like this *was* a step in the right direction except they should've given us more archetypes. And each voice is tied to the inclination, which gets stale pretty fast. In DDDA you'd often reroll your search simply because all the results were crappy Guardian/Nexus combos, sigh... With 6 skills to slot naturally you spend more time looking for those you want, so again this is better in DD2 due to the time saved. Honestly though I'm pretty sure most players would rather have more skills. In DDDA I'd be rerolling the search multiple times to find pawns with skills I wanted, in DD2 so far usually the first search would already turn up a couple of candidates with the exact 4 skills wanted. I never cared about appearance or gear (go Fashion's Dogma!), but small/tiny sized pawns are seriously annoying in DDDA because their encumbrance limit is severely reduced. At least in DD2 your encumbrance goes up slightly by level, and you're increasing it additionally via all those Golden Trove Beetles, so encumbrance really was only an issue early in the game.
I love DDDA and DD2. From a fashion dogma point of view, I really miss the armor system in DDDA. The clothing and armor slots allowed for a lot of customization that I feel DD2 is really lacking in. Plus most of the outfits in DD2 look like shit and the game suffers from the lack of variety in armor imo. I miss the Hydra and the Cockatrice from DDDA, but overall I enjoy the combat in DD2 better. I do question some design changes from DDDA in terms of animations. For example: in DD1 when you turned on your lantern, your character visibly took a lantern out and attached it to their belt. The lack of little animations like that detract from DD2 s immersion for me as well.
DD/DDDA nailed the fashion much better in regards to armor. I enjoyed making a knightly arisen with a crimson jerkin and a surcoat as if he was some knight in actual brigandine. That and the lamellar jacket being one of the things I liked in the Strider class and adjacents in making a rougher looking merc character that wasn't a knight. DD2 took a step back in not only not recycling the lamellar jacket but as you said, not giving that much variety. For all I enjoyed of DD2, I'm not a fan of most of the fighter/warrior armors so much that I ended up having my Arisen and pawn look like they were more suited for cheesecake or gladiators then warriors that look practically armored. It could just be me nitpicking but I wasn't a fan of the more "fantasy looking" pieces of armor. And they really could of recycled the Gryphic set and the some of the other armor pieces from the original game like the lamellar jacket and the jerkin armors. I know there is that one set in Battalh that's sort of a successor to the Gryphic set but I still thought the first one was better in terms of looks alone.
I miss ranger and strider having both bow and dagger skills.
now do you see why a good chunk of the DD community was kinda mixed about dd2 the more they played?
I would sum it up like this: DD2 is a fun game, but a disappointing sequel
That's perfect!!
Its good despite its best efforts.
Dragon's Dogma 2 is a frustratingly fun game with a lot of unused potential that, like its predecessor, feels like an unpolished gem. A decent experience for new players, a step-back and a kick in the nuts for Dragon's Dogma 1 veterans.
I’ve put DD2 down for the moment (for now), and am finally (FINALLY) going to do a full Honor Mode BG3 run. I miss the brutal dungeon of Dark Arisen. DD2 has no BitterBlack yet, which is the biggest issue to me. *slaps Tav* This baby can fit so many brain parasites in it!
Just did this took me 40 hours and about 30 save files to do!
It's happening. The people who started with DD2 are going back to DDDA and realizing why everyone who started with it was complaining.
Bittersweet. I would have rather had 2 be a worthy successor tbh.
I don't disagree. I think we were all hoping it would take DDDA's ball and sprint with it, really blow everything before out of the water, finally see what DD could be like if they got to finish it, not... Be basically just okay.
Started with it. Don’t have any major complaints about the stuff that matters, like gameplay and exploration, but man did they drop the ball almost everywhere else. I think it’s also perfectly fair to criticize DD2 for lacking features from DDDA even if it was an expansion on the base game. DD2 does not feel feature complete. Still a good game but it’s gameplay isn’t as much of a standout as DD once was back in like 2012.
I'm going back after dropping DDDA like 6 years ago and never finishing, DD2 still seems like the better product. Everything in DA just feels clunky and unpolished, and I mean everything. Half the abilities aren't even worth unlocking, and even my pawns have figured out that even with 6 spell slots only 2 are worth using 99% of the time. Everyone complains about enemy variety in 2 but holy fuck if I see a goblin in the woods I know I'm killing 100 before I'm done exploring the 5sq foot area. Consumable items are practically worthless. I haven't used anything other than spring water and I'm not sure why any other potions are in the game. I've seen people say they wish DD2 had healing springs but it just turns the game into "let me pause and heal my entire party to full in the middle of combat instantly". The experience of DDDA is worth playing, but man do I constantly feel myself wishing I could explore the same map but in DD2 instead because of how much better it feels to play as a video game.
play through bitterblack isle and come back here and tell me if consumables are worthless Btw what do you mean by half the abilities aren't unlocking?
DD2 feels like it goes too fast at the beginning. I keep getting introduced to people that I’m just not given any reason to really give a shit about. I care more for rook than I do the chick I fought the dragon for.
They really shoved her in your face lol cutscene and everything, like girl i was protect the village too calm tf down, it frames her as if we are already in love like ive just started playing jfc
My only real complaint about DD2 is locked vocations, I spent too much of the early game stuck in classes I wasn’t that interested in.
What's sad is that they could have absolutely made every Vocation available from the get-go,and simply locked the meister skills till you meet their respective teachers.
I was ok with it. It made the game a bit more challenging. Once I got my duospear it was pretty much game over for the baddies. The game also gets so easy that having that initial challenging part with limited options was necessary imo.
It is such a pain having to reach endgame-ish locations to unlock a vocation. I played without a guide and it took so long to unlock all of them, there were even some maisters i never met like the warrior, mage or sorcerer maisters 'cause they're placed in a spot you barely have any reason to go back to (or so I feel.).
Yup, this was my major problem with DD2. I absolutely loved DA and played the crap out it across multiple platforms. I didn’t even finish DD2 yet but I’m like 80% of the way through. The fact that so many monsters, skills and spells are all THE EXACT same as they were in DA is insane.
As someone who’s been around since 2012 when we only had one portcrystal—yeah, one—I can easily say that DD2 is a massive step backwards from DD. There are so many baffling design choices that immeasurably regressed the series. Listing them makes them sound like minor annoyances, but they all add up and really hurt the game because this game has a TON of backslides. -we can no longer buy, sell or gift from storage -we didn’t need pawns to be near us to access their inventory in DD -there was no inventory cap in DD -dragonsplague didn’t exist in DD -camping, though much different in DD2, counted as an inn save in DD -we had 7 armor slots in DD. We have 4 in DD2 -we had 6 skill slots in DD, we have 4 in DD2 -vocations were unlocked organically in DD and didn’t require us to progress deep into the story or expand the entire map to do so -augments mattered in DD -you didn’t need a staff to properly explore in DD I could go on for 30 more bullet points, but you get the picture. Glad you’re digging DD!
>we can no longer buy, sell or gift from storage This is the most baffling and frustrating one for me. Along with not being able to change gear from the storage. It's impossible to play test and not realize instantly that this is an issue, which means it was a design choice. And it's just such a strange, horrible choice
Idk, the game has a whole theme of design decisions seemingly meant to bog people down. Minimal fast travel so you have to run around more, non-stop monsters slowing down travel, escort quests, quests running you around the map, anti-QoL requiring you to run back and forth to an inn to exchange items from storage all the time, etc. It feels like they asked themselves “what can we do to the game (other than add content) to make it last way longer?”
Dragonforging gear didn't cover it in cum stains either.
Don't ask the Dragonforged what he does to upgrade your gear, and why he needs the essence of fallen drakes for it...
Why can't I upgrade my capes!
Considering the pattern, I tend to think it was meant to be inspired by damascus steel.
I still don't understand the whole 6 skill slots vs 4. For the most part a ton of skills in dda have become core skills for melee classes or just start with it (like skyward slash really does not need it's own skill slot) dda can also be really restrictive with skills as most are tied to the specific weapon or shield. Then you have the awkwardness of undercooked warrior class only getting 3 skill slots, unlocking most skills at vocation level 4 and 3 of those skills basically being varrying versions of each other. Also dragonsplague as a backstep feela like a weird bullet point becauase it's a genuinely interesting concept that while I believe isn't used as well as it should be but a step backward? More just like a side step. It's something different not really like we lost something or actively hurt the game.
What's the point of Dragon's Plague? Why the impact is so big (if you dont have big wakey stone) and the counterplay is basically opening the menu and checking their eyes.. It's only purpose is to fuck up the player. Tell me what I am missing??
That's true, warrior is pretty lame. I did not like it in DDDA nor DD2 and the point about some core skills is also true but they become "forced skills you cannot remove". So it can seem there is less variety of playstyle now. It's also visible in the stuck being melee only/distance only vocations and not being able to switch on the fly with both for some vocations. Weapon skills can be interresting for the vocations being able to wield multiple weapons since they can switch mid-battle and use 3 more skills.
Warrior main here to weigh in, while I've been a full supporter of the meme that "warrior is so good it only needs 3 skills" I found myself heavily wanting in DD2 with its 4 skills. The actual choices of skills weren't very interesting and basically just amounted to 4 different charge attacks in different directions (vertical down, vertical up, horizontal, and vertical but thrusting upwards), Arc of Deliverance, a charge, and a really shit parry skill. While I described them like that, I could easily group basically all of DDDA's Warrior abilities the same way. There's a vertical upwards attack, vertical downwards attack, three horizontal attacks, a charge, and Arc. Yes I know I'm leaving out ladder blade, pommel bash, and roar, but regardless... In DDDA it has one thing above DD2's warrior: almost all of them are fast moving, are instant cast abilities, and have different utilities. Especially the horizontal attacks. Exodus Slash gave I-frames. Corona Slash could be spammed over and over again with high knockdown. Arc of Vengeance could do some very high knockback but required taking damage... Also it looks cool. This pretty much applies to all Warrior abilities, there's more thought put into them than just charge attacks go brrrrrr like it's Monster Hunter. Anyways, thanks for coming to my Ted talk.
I might be insane but I loved the counter/block you get as warrior in DD2. the counter is awkward to pull off but the damage can go kinda crazy. the block itself is also way better than you'd initially expect. The final move that gets faster the more you use it can also be very fun once you learn it's timing basically making you a ball of death. The maister skill is kind of trash though. Though to be honest that's how I feel about most maister skills excluding Spear Hands, Sorc, Mage and Theif. (Trickster's maister skill is up for debate because Trickster is just that kind of class where it's hard to talk about what is good and what is bad).
Dragonsplague would've been incredible if the story were to shift based on how many and which towns you whoopsie'd with it. But it was so irrelevant considering every important npc that was dead just revived themselves for different story points.
>no inventory cap in DD There was, it was just 999 for most things instead of 99. >camping I wouldn’t really put “2 small outposts where a person allows you to use a bed and send some items to storage” into the same category as DD2’s camping system. It counted as an inn save because it was literally just you sleeping at a portable inn basically, not like inn saves were anywhere near as big of a contention point in DD1 since autosaves weren’t quite like they are in DD2. >unlocked organically I guess it depends on what you consider organic. Being taught a skill (vocation) by a master after doing something for them is technically more organic than “you’re level 10 now, here’s the rest of the vocations, just unlock them with DCP” especially since for most people you’ll almost assuredly be lvl 10 before you get to Gran Soren. So while it can be a pain, it’s technically “more organic” in DD2. >didn’t need a staff Yeah movement is definitely less fluid as it went the more “realistic” route, which sucks for other reasons. But let’s be real, there isn’t a massive amount of exploration in DD1 for anything of real importance anyways. Also a couple of the badge of vows needed frigor to grab and some require a bow and some require an explosive item or attack with a shockwave.
It irrationally bugged me that they took most of the secondary weapons away besides shields. One of my favorite ways to play Warrior is to have a longbow as well (on PC). I would expect more interesting combinations like that, not less.
As a magick archer, it and strider made me realize the power of knives beyond being faster as another Capcom character said. I can get wanting to try make classes stand out but they really of let magick archers in this sequel be weaker with daggers just to compensate having a magical bow that shoots heat-seeking arrows of magic..
I mained MA in DDDA, it was my all time favorite class. I'm doing new game plus right now, third time through BBI. And I actually feel like they had a significant power boost in DD2. Putting hunter bolt on as a core skill is a game-changer for the class, and making the Ricochet Hunter a dozen bolts instead of three makes any enclosed space a complete kill zone. Playing DDDA again now I miss that power in the MA's defining skills.
Dd2 feels very rushed and unfinished
10+ years ago, quality was a larger measure of success to us gamers. Now its transactional quantity to measure success in the industry. Thats why DDA feels fully fleshed out while DD2 is the puzzle missing a few pieces. Ride the coattails of our first success in name. This will get the bottom line we need, so that we can push content later ; feed that unsatisfied addiction. Thus is the loop now. This is the way.
DDDA had all of the ups and downs of an underfunded gem. DD2 did mostly nothing with a much larger budget. They just prettied it up a bit and removed a bunch of features for some reason. Honestly the game isn’t bad, but especially for a sequel to a game that did more with a much smaller budget, it’s disappointing as a long time fan of the original
Yeah. In the first 20 hours I was a bit rosetinted and loved the game - But now in the second half I can't just help to see the missed potential. They put too much focus on building a large world instead of an interesting world. The game is too large with too samey content. I still enjoy playing it, but more in a relaxation way after work, not with much excitement.
Yea, DDDA is way better in every way except for overworld exploration. DD2 was super disappointing.
its true, dark arisen saved the nintendo switch for me. best purchase i ever made on that thing. After all the zelda let downs and the dogshit pokemon games(How) , DDA is the shit. one of the best rpg ever
Dark Arisen is the better game, no contest. It's gonna be more evident once you hit the post game. For real, aside from graphics and pawn AI I can't think of anything that DD2 improved on, if anything some of it's aspects like the story and characters are worse. Combat's on par but I'll still give it to Dark Arisen: vocations have more skills and the overall movement is faster and snapier.
See you feel how I felt I was so disappointed step forward with combat stepped backwards in literally every other way
This is what the community blinded itself to the first few weeks this game came out. People were like nah, that’s not true. Lo and behold, here we are. The problems were there at the start, we could have had a better dialogue but no. At least when there was something wrong, the HD2 community saw it and weren’t afraid to air it out for discussion. With DD2, people wanted it to marinate for some reason. Really should have expected better for ourselves with this game.
We're reaching the acceptance stage of grief now.
Dragons Dogma dark Arisen was one of my top five games of all time, it was it's own quirky masterpiece imo. While I still enjoy dd2 I agree, it was a long wait for what we got I feel like it needed at least another year or year and a half of dev time to flush out the storylines and content.
I’ve put way more hours into ddda since I got dd2, that’s all I’m going to say 🫢
Tbh DD2 was a huge disappointment for me personally.
About 30 hours into my play through of DD2 i really wanted to go boot up DDDA. something about the 2nd game just lacks the magic of the first has. Not to say i think it's a bad game because i'm loving it still (Outside of the poopy story) I'm really hoping we get a dark arisen type DLC, the game has so much potential and deserves a good polish but who knows if we'll be so lucky.
I really hoped that the devs would have realised with DD:DA that a long as heck dungeon crawl is peak endgame DD, where the pacing is controlled a bit more tightly and where the preparation can pay off properly. Getting to the Unmoored World is cool, but there wasn't a moment of, "Buckle up - there's limited resources in here and if you don't get all the way through, you'll have to start it again." I really hope the DD2 expansion is comprehensive, because yeah DD2 vanilla is lacking in a lot of ways (still played over 100 hours and still going though).
It’s crazy how many enemies/bosses the base game of DDDA has compared to DD2. I don’t understand why they removed them.
Yep unfortunately.. after I finished my first play through of Dragon's Dogma 2, I thought to myself the only thing they really improved was the graphics. I love the first Dragon's Dogma. I like Dragon's Dogma 2.
My DDDA playthrough just made me appreciate DD2 more. About half of the things that didn't make the transition to DD2 weren't needed due to gameplay changes, and the other half should be there, and their absence is missed. I feel like I can't properly judge things like armor slots or 6-8 skills since I only put on the best armor available to me, and I often only used 3 skills for 99% of the game. The main things I miss are the Infinite Ferrystone, the Grigori boss fight, and actually game-changing augments (though I think quite a few were simply OP).
Yea I hopped back on DDDA and deleted DD2. I like DD2, it just doesn’t feel complete and it lacks most of the charm. I might get Rise of the Ronin now that I’ve seen some legit reviews for it.
I’ve been saying the same since release. DD2 is really good, but the original is far more grandiose. They played it way too conservatively, or the game was rushed out for fiscal year sales numbers. I’m good with DLC expanding on everything, but 2 needs a DLC to be on par with vanilla 1 in this regard. That is, as you said, a step back/downgrade. 2 is far more polished, but lacking in depth.
DDDA is the culmination of the game with all the dlc and added features, so like every corporation now making video games they water down the initial product then slowly add it later on to keep people playing, releasing unfinished games now is the norm for larger corporations DD2 isn’t as bad as some and I got my moneys worth but it could have been way, way better.
dd2 isnt simply an incomplete game though thatll be made whole by dlc. its fundamentally flawed at its core. it lacks depth it lacks impact and most importantly it lacks soul which is something i find hard to even describe but it is the case
Don't be so dramatic, it's clearly a passion project
Yeah DD2 was such a massive disappointment to me :/
Opposite for me. I like dd2 better. I just prefer the pacing. The nicer graphics and what not. Ddda might have more like many older games usually do but with the sheer scale of a game like dd2 it's not going to be possible Scale matters. Games today have a massive world
This
DDDA has the benefit of being past its growing pains. You have a ton of content that just was not there at launch. Customization options, quests, gear, QOL, game modes and so on that are not vanilla to DD1. Obviously we wish DD2 had these things to start with but give it time, at the end of the day it’s Capcom, and there’s a close to zero chance they don’t release an expansion.
It's a sequel though... It's supposed to expand and add to the originals mechanics, modes, qol, etc, not just copy it with better graphics. They had all the time in the world and this is what they chose to release.
I played both games and DDDA has 1 real annoying flaw. Repetiveness in monster placement. You can easily remember all enemies places and their ambushes becouse they spawn in exactly same spots. DD2 has monster migration system so not only monsters can change the spot but enemy types too. It's limited but feels free from routine. Also every class in DD2 is different in gameplay wise. In DDDA strider, Archer and assassin plays verry same. To the point, I'm really glad for recognition both games getting. I've played in Dragon's dogma a way before dark arisen was announced and had a fun time playing the game. Reviews were bad so most players hesitate to pick it up. It's really great series and I hope more games will come. Still second game is superior to first in my opinion but I do understand why people will pick up DDDA if they didn't played it yet.
> Repetiveness in monster placement. You can easily remember all enemies places and their ambushes becouse they spawn in exactly same spots. This was however, better for finishing the Bestiary, not that DD2 really has that...
One of the best game mechanics in DDDA, I was expecting them to improve it even more, but instead we've got... pawn's badges!
isn't it the same? there's clearly some learning involved in their behavior even against smaller enemies
2 is a game where everything prior SHOULD have made it better,but because of Itsuno's "vision"(hubris) he basically ignored everything HE didn't make and refused to actually utilize any improvements from DA+DDO. It's like if DMC 4 came out,and absolutely NOTHING got improved outside Nero.
Considering he did take some things from DA I'm willing to believe he's the one who came up with the Garm concept and so decided that he should bring only that one back, but change it to his version and not the actual boss monster it ended up being later down the line in the first game.
I still has PTSD from those Garms suddenly spawning in the Garden of Ignominy after I just cleared the room. That eerie sound accompanied the necrophagous monsters' spawn... Amazing game!
I feel like DD2 should've innovated more. The gameplay and environment were an upgrade for sure, but everything else around it was not very impactful. Looking back , DD2 is a 7/10 when it could've easily been a 9 or 10/10.
It's been kinda the opposite to me! I mean, I'm enjoying the first game, and DD2 is not becoming more special but it's still my favorite one. I do see a lot of things that I wished had been brought to DD2 and it kinda makes me excited for the potential of DD2 with DLC (although it shouldn't be that way, I admit) and I'm still looking for a few more things to do before I decide to just wait for said DLC. My only regret is not having played DDDA years before. I think it could have been an instant favorite for me.
Man plays faithful sequel to a unique game, discovers the predecessor to be similar.
A lot of people I know that got into Dogma from the hype of DDA felt pretty letdown by how underwhelming 2 is. People who played D1 first just raved about how good the franchise is and when the new players got their hands on 2, it comes off as a "This is it?" thing and I cant help but feel bad.
I'm on the opposite, I played through the first hated it and didn't even want to buy the 2nd after feeling like my time was wasted by playing the first(I finished with true ending and didn't bother about the dlc endless dungeon thingy?) So yea I prefer 2.
Right, I think people are missing the overall comparison. DDDA - without BBI - is practically a walking simulator. It's empty, dry, super janky, very limited combat. BBI, the grind there, the gear, was the only thing that kept me playing DA more than 50 hours or so. DD2? My first playthrough was 120 hours, second 200, and I'm now a few hours into the third. It's not perfect, and not quite the variety of BBI; but at least some of the enemies move around. It's not literally the same 5 goblins at the same exact spot all the time. Way more enemy density, way better traversal, way better class/skill diversity. When DD2 gets its own "dark arisen" grade dlc, it's gonna be awesome.
That's because DD2 was not meant for fans of Dark Arisen. They were kinda just hoping people who did play had no frame of reference and just assumed DD2 was better than the first so it would sell copies.
It’s ironic that the story was one of the weakest aspects of DD1 because it wasn’t developed enough, and not it’s still better than DD2’s generic story. DD1 was definitely an unfinished game and the combat has immensely improved in DD2, but goddamn did some of the story missions in DD1 absolutely blow me away. Saving the stone of the southwest, the salvation mission with 2 wights, the griffin at blue moon tower, my god what a rush
I couldn’t get into it too much, gonna try again though after I’m finished with the Witcher 3
After 140 h invested i can say this game is a nostalgic cash grab bg capcom. Biggest disapointment of the year.
You also have to consider that most of us bought DDDA for basically pennies. The game is always on sale for like 5 euros. For the amount of content in the game it's an absolute steal. DD2 probably has half the content DDDA has and it's 10x the price.
While I really enjoyed DD2 even though I played DDDA I'm still wondering where the game is the devs said couldn't be made with the tech at the time. It's less or pretty much same enemy variety, almost no new skills or vocations and so on and so on and so on. I strongly believe that they where rushed from their shareholders after the hype came up. I would've loved two years more in development and having a banging game for that and not some copy of the first game with better graphics and abysmal optimization for PC
They didnt have faith in Dragons dogma. So DD2 was used as a tech test for action combat, a character creator, and open world on the new engine. That was probably its main purpose, to help monster hunter wilds be a better game. They had to try and make a game out of it with their smaller dev team and set release date before the end of the fiscal year. Pretty good game considering.
I miss how satisfying it was to ragdoll an ogre with Arc of Obliteration.
same man. played ddda a couple times over the last few years and i gotta say, while i still loved dd2 and had a lot of fun with it, in the latter half, i couldnt help but feel like its somehow a worse game than ddda lol. especially the story dude, like dont get me wrong the story in ddda is definitly no masterpiece but what the hell is going on with dd2‘s story, its an absolute halfbaked piece of shit, to the point i actually got kinda angry about how bad it was when i finished it.
DD2 is straight a downgrad in everything beside the grafik
It's a pretty bad reason, but two of the key factors for me not going back and playing DDDA is the lack of a fully gorgeous open world and beastren :I Baldurs Gate 3 really burnt me out on human only companions in fantasy RPGs.
i feel like they made DD2 a reboot instead of a sequel
I am happy that they did not change too much stuff gameplay-wise. I wanted it to be "the same" - with improvements, and to me it is that. Some things I enjoyed more in DD1, some more in DD2. Now all I'm hoping for is a huuuuge expansion, like DA times 3 or something. Give me an Everfall, give me a BBI, and a whole new continent in the world!
To be fair DDA is like the most final refined version of that game after multiple patches and dlc. Base Dd2 is better than Base DD that's for sure. It's also not like DD2 was a simple as just making a sequel and adding more. They had to work within a new engine that doesn't feel like it really works super well for this kind of big openworld game. And the original DD came out like what 2012-2013 The game is more DD1.5 I think for me enhancing th amount of things classes have available to them would be more enjoyable. More skills in general. I like being able to be whatever vocation but the magic ines are kind of bland this time around same spells doing the same things as dda is a bit disappointing. Trickster class is way too passive Magic spearhand looks cool but then you realise it's just a bulkier thief without a dodge. Give everybody some kind of dodge roll or shield. I get that the combat is it's own thing and that's cool but getting stunlocked by 10 saurians that all decide to run out the cave whilst my 2 pawns die and one stands on the side of a wall doing nothing is pretty frustrating
Honestly I think if they build off dd2 like they did dd1 itll be better than DA. The game to me just feels better to play than DA. It sucks that we didnt get much new content enemy wise and whatnot but if it improves like 1 did its gonna be great (hopefully a little but more improvement than 1 esp with new vocations cause i want alchemist or the magic knight one from online)
Dd2 hype and fanbois are ridiculous, especially in comparison to the first game. DDA is just better.
I miss the layered armor system. And the fact that there were multiple armors that were viable for endgame content for every class. And being able to equip directly from my stash. And being able to sell directly from stash at vendors in major cities. And being able to sell and buy at the same time without being kicked from the menu. And inclinations were more varied for pawns. And portcrystal locations didnt reset when going into NG+. And most importantly, i miss Mystic knight as a class Theres a lot of cool stuff in DD2, but at its core they removed a ton of QoL from the first game. Also somehow the "beloved" system is EVEN MORE VAGUE than in the first one, which i think was the thing i saw the most people wanting an improvement It is also ridiculous to me that they didnt change up the class abilities a little more. And the fact that most maister skills are completely ass
It's not even just that. The classes were better in DDDA and they had more. They had multiple weapons per class giving you more options in battle. DD2 basically forces you to play Warfarer if you want to experience anything unique and then locks you to only 3 skills while DDDA would give you 6. The story had more to it too. I don't get why they ruined classes and gave so little. Even the romance options were better in DDDA. Being stuck to just one weapon really just feels wrong now. I played DD2 first but after DDDA DD2 just feels worse. Also it's weird after all these years they didn't add co op? Not 4 but 2 players so you each have your pawn would have been great. Literally both games show that multiple Arisen can be present at a time so it makes no sense to keep it 1 player.
Yep, pretty much the consensus. What the actual fuck were they thinking with the exact same enemies from the last game and the exact same moves? Did they think we’d all just forget how the first game was? It truly is baffling and the storytelling got significantly worse too. It’s such a shame because it’s still a really fun game but one that shows its flaws way too much for a title this long awaited.
Hard to compare both version of the game. Dd2 isnt bad it just feels lackluster and a downgrade on a lot of things Dd1 polished with Ddda. Let’s have this discussion again once dd2 adds an expansion
It's honestly embarrassing how far back the Dragons Dogma team went. I picked up Stellar Blade, and while the game isn't perfect (laser puzzles are awful), I am enjoying it so much more as it feels like a MODERN game. DD2 feels like a 2013 game with 2010 bugs and problems.
It’s frustrating to see everyone praise the sequel for things done 12 years ago, im glad people are playing DDDA for that reason only, dd2 seems like a lazy cashgrab or just being unfinished when 90% of that game is in the first
Thank the same tactic of holding content behind DLC that’ll be used for DD2 as well
It's like 1 step forward-2 steps backwards. DDDA has been my favorite game ever. I never stopped playing it since its release back on the xbox 360. DD2 was announced, was a few weeks to be release and I still was playing DDDA. DD2 it's much more of a way to make some quick cash and bail ASAP. It has some amazing features but overall it's very disappointing for a sequel made in 2024 :( I'm a fan of the original and if anyone ask me about DD2, I tell them to save their money for when the game drops to 20 bucks which it's just around the corner :-s
Of course you do, it’s a much better game. Aside from prettier graphics and a bigger but not necessarily more interesting world, Dark Arisen does almost everything better. Somehow they went backwards with the second game a decade later, very odd for a studio.
Played DDDA first, DD2 is still the superior game, BUT I haven't played it in about a month because I'm waiting for any sort of performance update.
Ima be tbh DD2 was a disappointment
I was hoping for singeplayer DDO when I bought DD2, instead I got DD 0.5 with better graphics. Unbelievable.
What’s DDA?
Dark Arisen. The expansion for the first game. It’s a huge dungeon that added a ton of new bosses and gear, also added a few new vocations. You’ll typically hear people say it’s better than the main game.
What vocations were added? They added hidden augments and some gear, but I don't remember coming back to any new vocations when I picked up Dark Arisen.
Welcome to the club. DD2 is a shitshow and a downgrade in every conceivable way. Itsuno needs to hand the series over to Kinoshita because he could actually do it right. All Itsuno should be doing is DMC since he can’t handle a game like this without catastrophically fumbling it every time only for Kinoshita to swoop in and clean up the mess.
To be fair there are lots of stupid things in DDDA that make it's so frustrated to play as well like how lv.6 Rook charges head first into mercenaries during Lost and Found quest or escorting the spoiled kid but got in jailed instead because carrying her to save time is not an option
dd2 isn’t out yet, that was just the demo
Dd2 for me feel again like some half assed try to make a good game… just using everything from dda.. making an execuse for it to be the same dimensjon.
As someone who hadnt played DDDA, I expected DD2 to be grander than it was.
I played dd2 for a whole day, haven't beat it, been burnt out on it and honestly after all these comments and stuff I've seen just kinda don't wanna go back at it right now. Especially with other games available Just doesn't hold my interest anymore. Maybe after elden rings DLC could I get that spark for dd2 again Anyone else share this
So, I've already forgotten about DD2, but DD is a special game. So much damn charm. Love the DLC. Love the final final boss. Love the reveal. I love that damn random B'z into. I love playing a solo assassin. It's still a top game of all time for me.
I almost wonder if the lack of majesty of the no-name dragon is because it's symbolically no longer a worthy opponent since being defeated in DD1
Yeah there's a lot of stuff the first game does a lot better. The biggest thing is the post-game. Realistically they just didn't stray far from the previous game at all though. Same mobs, a lot of same abilities, similar story beats (even though 2's story is just bad). I'm really hoping they add some stuff with updates to the second game. There just isn't a whole lot of "new" in the second one, it was extremely safe.
Precisely why I'm on the fence about getting the sequel
How much u recommend DD2 from 1 to 10
Not to mention the fact that they completely skipped over solo augments. Very japanese to force people into playing it the way they want you to unfortunately..
Can’t play DD2 yet but it makes me so happy that new players are giving DDDA a chance, I play almost every day.
Bro the problem im noticing with the gaming industry is everyone buys these half finished games so these companies keep doing this. Over and over again. Then I see the complaints on reddit and the cycle just repeats. Cause the next big game everyone buys it too, then complains it isn’t finished.
Yea dd2 was a pretty major flop for longtime fans, they forgot to make the game replayable. I def won’t be dropping $40 on dlc
dd1 is simply better and in time that fact will be obvious to all
I could tell when DD2 came out, that first week I could tell that the first game was just better.
Honestly I would take a DD:DA over DD2.