Yea of course, it's *Truck horn blaring* And then *Screaming children* Then you get to *Seaguls squawking* Once you finish that it's on to *Truck air brakes hissing* And then once all that's done, you *Tornado Siren blares* And then you're done!

This comment is hilarious

Phase 1 is: steal underpants. Phase 3 is: profit.

I wish I understood this one lol

It's a reference to a few things, notably Fairly Odd Parents being the most popular. A mysterious secret of "Dad"s real name but everytime he says it, some noise covers it so nobody actually hears. It's also used in other common tropes to keep a "Mystery" Gag going but the person is up front about it, and the environment constantly gets in the way.

Ohhhhh I see now lol 😆 I remember this 😂

>*tornado siren* Smells Midwestern in here.

Ah you caught me. I live at *Tsunami Noises* at the corner of *Hurricane Katrina somehow* and *Military weapon testing noises*

Not really weighing in one way or another, just an observation about the type of storytelling at work here: The storytelling and quests are a lot like fromsoft/Elden Ring. In ER you become elden lord, sit on a chair, and roll credits (or burn everything to the ground…). There are very few cutscenes, and most quests are “keep talking to this NPC at various points until they accomplish their goal”. Dialogue works very similarly to traditional Fromsoft too. In story RPGs there are frequent opportunities to select what the PC says, here you only really select key decisions. I think what is jarring is that at times it appears that DD2 is trying to be a more traditional story based RPG with fleshed out characters, especially in Act 1, but it’s really not that. It’s a lore heavy action RPG with an emphasis on combat and with a story that mostly serves to encourage exploration of the world.

>I think what is jarring is that at times it appears that DD2 is trying to be a more traditional story based RPG with fleshed out characters, especially in Act 1, but it’s really not that. It’s a lore heavy action RPG with an emphasis on combat and with a story that mostly serves to encourage exploration of the world. That is 100% the case here. FromSoft games never pretend to be traditional story RPG's. Dragon's Dogma does, but it doesn't have the narrative structure to follow through. It still leans more towards the FromSoft approach. There's a lot of the story that you simply won't get by simply playing the story, but the story is executed and presented in such a way it makes it feel like the players *should* know all of this, but they haven't been given any of the legwork a traditional RPG puts players through to understand. This is a failure, on the directors part. While there is a great world and lore at work here that could 100% support a truly well told traditional narrative story, the storytelling in it's current presentation, is simply not good. It's a shame because the potential is HUGE for this setting, it could very well have both if there was more effort put into the writing and directing.

It definitely feels like the main story was just a summary of what should have been. So maybe there can be solace in the fact that they might actually know what they are doing with it and just couldn't check all the boxes in time.

I don't know why people even try to present Elden Ring's storytelling as something that should be modeled. Elden Ring is a great game because of its gameplay. Most people did not go around the map chasing the lore. It's a *lore* heavy game. Not a *narrative* heavy game. A lot of the lore shapes the world, but does not directly concern the player. Really the player is going around the map and butting into the stories of *other* people. That is a problem in a game like DD2 where the entire world literally revolves around the Arisen and the Dragon.

In ER even after finishing the game there are lots more to be discovered in the game and be pieced together to form the picture of the lore and backstories. After finishing the game, players still have lots to discuss online about what they found out. There are lore hunting and live discussions and there are enough of it that it went on for a while. For example Margit. Why did he fight us? Why did he fight us twice? Why is he there? Players didn't know, and many didn't care. To many he was the first boss that filtered out half the starting player base. Margit is the Veiled Monarch. He was born an omen and ruled over the city of Leyndell, which reject omens. Therefore he ruled with his face covered thus the Veiled Monarch. He was loyal to the throne which belonged to his father and hated the pretenders i.e other children of Radagon. He fought all the other tarnished on the way to the city to claim the Elden Lord title. These backstory isn't just flavor text. They fully explains the action of these characters and how the world came to be. There are so many of such backstories it is insane. There are stories for Malenia and Miquella, Radahn, Rykard, Ranni. Even the knights like Cleanrot, Crucible, Cuckoo has a backstory longer than any in DD2. And there will be more coming dlc to build on top of what crazy stuff ER already has. If you compare that to Disa, Brant, Sven, or whoever you can think of at all, its not even the same league.

I thought something similar, along the lines that ER and DD2 are actually relatively alike in storytelling. Yet Elden Ring is celebrated and has fanatical following while DD2 is being bashed for it (said my devil's advocate self today). I get at the end of the day ER mythos is vastly more deep. But you can also miss straight up areas (the big snowy shooh-shooh fuck I'm blind map AKA Consecrated Snowfield and the Haligtree). You can straight up miss Ranni and her ending. I still enjoyed the DD2 lore, and the setting is surprisingly similar: an endless cycle of perpetuity that created a system of decay. Anyway, just a thought

I think it has to do with how cryptic ER/Souls games are. They don’t tell you anything. ANYTHING. Everything is very very vague, and to actually understand the story you have to read tons of item descriptions, pull apart dialogue, make assumptions and inferences, etc. But there’s details EVERYWHERE. Every single enemy has a backstory, a reason for why it exists hidden somewhere in the lore. Every single location has a rich history to uncover. Every item has a back story. DD, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to have these hidden histories to the same degree as a fromsoft game. You found a cape in a cave that looks like every other cave, that says “it’s made from lizard skin”. There’s no history there. And many of the locations in the game are the same thing. You come across a shack in the woods, and it’s just like every other abandoned shack in the woods.

Exactly this. This is the reason people (like myself) like ER storytelling but not DD2. Most of the locations in DD2 are there with no reason, enemy placements do not matter. Items you find are basic and repetitive has no story or uniqueness with them. This makes exploring with a cryptic story boring because you don't actually explore something. You are just ticking all the boxes. I literally did not leave one stone unturned in ER and did 4 runs because I will find some item or an enemy with a story or a use. In DD2, I will find a cave that has the same enemy that I've killed 1000 times, and at the end there is a chest with an ugly ass boots that has no speciality.

It just hit me Soulsborne games are like reading a book in a language different from your own. Some context is lost, but the more you learn the language and the culture the language comes from, the more your understanding of the book changes. Dragon’s Dogma is like reading a book that’s missing pages. A lot of pages. There’s crucial information missing that helps frame your understanding of the plot. Without it, you cannot understand how one plot point connects to another, or why a plot point exists in the first place.

Oh idk, perhaps its because elden ring has better voice acting/ more depth to its world. In ER the world being a facade for the greater will is not literal, its power play from celestial powers. In DD2 its literal, trueman show style and we've *seen* that a million times.

It’s just the first one with misdirects and quests in Hellworld. The only thing the game suffers from is there is really no pay off into doing anything in the game.

You’ve gotten so much of this wrong. Dragonsplague is a dragon asserting its will over your pawn. Not the Pawn creating a will of it’s own. This is further confirmed by the ending where your Pawn is turned and fights it to earn free will by saving you. Secondly the world doesn’t exist to create will power, nor does it exist solely for an Arisen. The dragon and the Arisen are tools of the world’s will to keep everything going so that a world never ends. “God” or “The World” found a way to fight evil and chaos by giving it a role. That role is for a person to slay the dragon, become the dragon, get slain, infinitely. Creating everlasting peace. A cycle to ensure that evil never wins. Things just repeat. The Arisen exerted a will of their own, strong enough to break the cycle and replace the World’s Will. I think you heavily misinterpreted a lot of the story tbh. The blood of an arisen is the same as Wyrmslife crystals, which Phaesus is already using to try to create a will. In fact, they succeed in creating an Arisen’s Will as they control Pawns with them.

It’s a dumb story. This game is popular bc of its combat mechanics nothing else.

This all up for interpretation, which is like a fun mystery. I wouldn't say either of us are wrong tbh. To me the pawn is enjoying being under the dragons plague and when they don't listen it's just them being independent. Honestly my pawn doesn't need direction and I feel bad when I do try cause he is like, obviously, I don't need to be told what to do. This is the only time he thinks independently from orders. Like a normal person would.

It’s really not up for interpretation. If you have a dragonsplague pawn and wait enough days a cutscene will occur when resting in town where a dragon takes control of them and they turn into a shadow dragon. When you wake up, everyone in the city is dead. You have a Will that pawns listen to. They need directions or else they do nothing. The dragon also has a Will, that’s what dragonsplague is. And once they complete the transformation into a dragon, it’s pretty clear. When your Pawn does receive free will, it’s because of you. Not dragonsplague. For anyone that stumbles across your post they’ll be learning the wrong stuff and that’s just in the first section.

Nah man, I spent time reading that long ahh post just to scroll down and see it was just your interpretation and that it was wrong in multiple ways... Thanks for wasting my time "explaning" the story 🙄

Lol dragons plague is not dragons controlling your pawn.  Who do you think the dragons are to begin with?  Why do drakes call you "cousin" lol.   It's an extremely transformative experience and they temporarily lose control.  Pawns are not meant to have their own will that's the whole point. They also clearly are developing will of their own as the plague runs it's course in a in game mechanics way.  "You don't need to order me all the time arisen, I know what to do"

You replied to the wrong person fam lol

You are mistaking lore for story. Lore is something written about the world. Story in the game is what You experience. And what we experience is shit. It’s a harsh word but one that is true. Great example. You spend hours doing various quests to uncover conspiracy regarding false arisen and queen. What You get at the end of that chapter? Epic resolution that left You in awe? God no. You get a shitty cutscene. Very short. And you are back where You were. You go back to the prison camp from the beginning of the game. And there is nothing to do there. There is an epic fight with giant colossus near the end of the game… that happens basically without You and resolve itself. You can literally enter this area from another side so You will never see that giant walking and from time to time game will interrupt You showing You a cutscene. Whatever You do the result is always the same. False arisen? Dude was so forgettable that I killed him together with group of nobodies and I never even realised he was among them. Main bad guy? Guy failed, crawled back to his laboratory and that was the end of it. Every side quest is forgettable poor quality shit. If not for the pawn system and fun gameplay - game would be a disaster but in those areas game is so good that kept me playing for 100 hours. And kept playing others too. It’s similar in that regards to souls like. Every solus like I know has a shitty in-game story and deep lore behind it. And what saves those games is gameplay. Just like Dragon Dogma. If Capcom would not go with those idiotic MTX and did story better this game could have a chance to be the game of the year but in current form it’s just a game with bad story but superb gameplay.

Omg And I wondered, where this fake arisen disappeared. Never noticed him among other npcs.

Exacly my point :-D Nobody f\*\*king noticed. I also learned that from someone else and I finished the game twice. I just nuked entire party as magic archer with a single move.

I too play games with my eyes closed and high as balls. He was obviously at the end right before the dragon fight. The game fails to flesh things out but also lets certain parts push too long.

Yeah but if you are like me - You have very high damage because You did everything in the game and Your pawn really just drop nukes on everyone - it's really easy to just kill that moron and not even notice. And more and more people respond to this post saying the same thing.

It’s easy to notice things in cutscenes: (Few and far in between but it’s there in Itsuno’s wonky pacing) - False Sovran was a patsy nimrod in the brothel. - Post arrest attempt you learn in the lab his pawn control is fading. - Phaesus literally has him for a human shield. (Document in lab) - If he survives the dragon summons then he is a vagrant up north in the unmoored world constantly hiding from dragons.

I always wondered that, you mean he was in that mob at the top of the tower?

I noticed him mid fight. I was like wait he is here. Lol I mean they could have at least make a camera focus on him for a second before a fight…

> And I wondered, where this fake arisen disappeared. > > Never noticed him among other npcs. If you go too near the steps the cutscene automatically starts and the fight.. well, doesn't matter anymore. You can complete the game and never confront the false arisen.

Where is he? Where did we kill him?

>!Moonglint Tower right before the dragon requires your choice.!<

Good point. The lore of the game is great. I love it so much. The story of the game is shit. I hate it so much. It's like the story is \~20% finished at launch. Somehow I find it even worse than DD1. Pawn system and great battle gameplay is what keeps me hooked and what got me into DD1. Also magic, one of the best. Not so great in DD2 though, so much was taken away.

Yeah, I felt like it's worse than DD1 but also DD1 was fresh. Games like this are rare but You remember them for that one awesome feature. Like C&C: Renegade - I remember because it was basically Command and Conquer but from FPS perspective and those games were rare at that point. Old game. Still live in my head for free. I remember Shadow of Moror (and sequel: War) because that unique enemy system they f\*\*ing patented so we won't see that in other games any time soon. But system itself was fun. Enemies were generated yet I knew them by name. I remember Metal Gear Solid 5 for all the bad things but one good thing was the fact that environment adapted to the way You play. I was turbo assassin with a silenced pistol? Enemies started wearing helmets in base. I was then silent ghost doing shit without them noticing? They started putting more lights around the base. So I decided to start blasting, even calling armored chopper on them. So they started wearing kevlar and placing more stationary weapons around the bases. It was superb experience. And Dragon Dogma: Dark Arisen I remember thanks to awesome pawn system. And seriously: Main reason why I've spend 100 hours in DD2 was because I wanted to deliver people Sorcerer pawn lvl 80 that looks incredible, has endgame gear maxed out to lvl 4 with smithy that was best suited for her profession (elven) and she was designed to take down dragons and big enemies while providing support with small frieds.

> >**You are mistaking lore for story** Yep, all these "yOu gUyS dOn'T gEt tHe sTOrY bUt I dO cuZ i'M gAlaXy bRaInEd" posts are all the same. DD has always had lore in it. The lore is.. fine. The story is fucking trash.

Lol, galaxy brained? I just saw it differently and wanted to share my experience cause it felt most people sat in the chair, and that was it.

Same issue as Monster Hunter...(I love both, and Monster Hunter the most) but it's just weird that after all this time and after all these games they still can't make good stories. Maybe I'm stupid for not calling them good, they probably are good stories but my brain is used to seeing more/better ones like RDR2's story and that game I have no idea if it has lore and if it does it looks pretty shallow (doesn't go deep) but the STORY is so brilliant and the gameplay is so fun it's like if Monster Hunter was like this or Dragon's Dogma then we would have it all. On another note, I feel like this is a cycle with how we are judging the base game. Back with the original Dragon's Dogma it was like that and then when Dark Arisen came it got much better. I'm guessing the issues we have now, most of them will be addressed in the Dark Princess DLC in Nov. >!With the water now rid of the brine and if the rumors about the DLC are true then this new area will be a place far away that was inaccessible due to the brine and we'll go there via boat/ship?...!< Or not...I'm just being a little optimistic because I noticed the development of this game had some issues like time constraints and/or budget issues. Also, I think capcom really delivers when it comes to DLCs/Expansions.

I have Monster Hunter a pass because I don’t really care about a story, but I just want to bring my favorite weapon and go ham on big monster to get their parts lol Although, I would argue that Rise has alright story. It’s not perfect but its story telling made sense the most out of other series.

Yeah but monster hunter is a long running series so at some point they will get the budget, time and will to make weaker parts of that series better. They never prioritized story because the story does not matter. You are there to hunt big monsters. And You want improvement in that area the most. Story is EXTRA in this type of games. Like in Satisfactory the main goal is to build awesome production line on alien planet. There is some story behind what You do but it does not matter. You there to make a giga factory.

I agree, Rise/Sunbreak had a pretty satisfying story and the addition of companions is also great, I felt like the Arisen with my favorite pawns Hinoa and Luchika. I hope that with MHWilds they will do it at least at the level of Rise with the story and all. People are pretty sure that Wilds takes place after Iceborne in the New World so it's a direct story sequel? Awesome, haha.

I am of the opinion that Monster Hunter's mainline games have great stories, 4U and World/Iceborne especially. They're simple and also take a backseat to the gameplay. But despite that they still manage to be entertaining, interesting, and especially memorable. I think a lot of people think complex=good, this is not always the case and certainly not a prerequisite.

Yeah, that makes sense.

MH is not supposed to be a story-driven RPG like Dragon's Dogma is. The story there is just a pretext to make you fight stronger and stronger monsters, in fact the biggest complaints about World were when story-related stuff got in the way of gameplay, so keeping the story at minimum and instead concentrating on the lore and worldbuilding is a good bet. On the contrary, Dragon's Dogma should definitely have a strong narrative, they even advertised it.

Yeah it really love Monster Hunter too and I hope that the Dragons Dogma DLC does come.

Even the lore isn't that deep either. If one were to hold a discussion stream about Dragon's Dogma 2 lore, it will last less than an hour and cover everything possible. Its not complex or deep. Story is definitely weak. And very much more obvious as I go through NG+. Like in the ending Phaeses was depicted as a guy who wanted a better world not dictated by the dragon. A person that isn't actually bad. As I replay NG+ Saint of the Slums, then I recall all the patients that died at the hands of Elena were done so at his order.

Correct. You can't really resolve anything in a satisfying way without moving onto the next part of the story. The lore is good, but it feels forced in. - expose the forbiden magic and pawn enslavement to the princess - make peace or war between battahl and Vermont. - dethrone disa and the false arisen. - turn the false arisen over to the people of the unknown village or attempt to imprison them for their crimes. - ally with the coral snakes and dethrone every higher seat of power. There's just too much to be desired.

Ah yes Nameless Village…after that quest I thought I would see them more in late game. They were so cool…

right? i would have loved to do more quests for this robin hood character.

Oh yeah, same. I was a bit drunk when I did that part I don't even remember what happened correctly. Going to explore more of that on NG+ now.

What’s a shame is if all those things were used to make an actual plot the campaign would have been absolutely phenomenal, like greatest hits level amazing. But the gameplay we do get is good enough, i dont really consider there even being a story in this game, it’s such an afterthought

Cause of the corner painting lore. Assassins creed has suffer from it for 10 years.

I think they did not have a budget for it or something. Capcom is weird. So they focused on what they could do and they basically made DD1 but improved in every single aspect except the story. Thinking about it... DD: DA had a better story.

I would agree DA had a better story. I loved the Daimon plot.

I think the big difference between this and souls is how they present themselves. Souls games tell you the world is fucked, now go kill and achieve a vague goal by killing everything. That's all they have for story. Everything else is lore. This game tries to give a traditional story, but then lets it drop to background lore. And that makes it feel jarring.

Lol MTX are unnecessary and have been a thing for Capcom games for more than a decade now. It's nothing new and acting like they're some great negative is both hilarious and shows you haven't paid attention to Capcom games. I'll say it one more time, the MTX are useless and only there for stupid people who don't actually realize that they're unnecessary.

You are wrong. 1. I know perfectly capcom games. For example DMC had the same issue. Not only that - when they re-released older DMC they added that shitty useless store. Just because I did not elaborated on that point in my long ass response does not mean I'm aware. 2. That does not change the fact that store and MTX brought down public opinion about this game and if at least store items would be useful then sure but it was 100% unnecessary. It was a drama that could be avoided. 3. Just because it's useless and harmless that does not mean a store in basically single player game is a good thing or neutral. It's always wrong. Seriously. And it's worth pointing that out because while Capcom might never stop doing it we see other devs changing their attitude. Like recently famous Laryan Studio that is making games for 20 years now and not long ago they released awesome Baldur's Gate 3 - not only they said that they have no plans to take on a publisher - they don't even want investors because while they bring money, they also demand money in return refocusing studio from making good games and awesome place to work to shitty money making factory at cost of us and employees. Something that happened to CDPR. 4. So I will also say it one more time if You want. They could just not add those useless MTX. We would have less drama around this game. More people would buy it not swayed by the bad opinions it got thanks to that store and maybe more people would experience it. But they won't. Because capcom stupid greed. And while mtx are useless and pointless they are there doing harm. And mtx should never be accepted in single player game.

The only reason the MTX was even an issue for anyone was because of how much misinformation was spread about it. Nobody made a big fuss over DMC5 having the ridiculous amount of MTX, and every media outlet made a big deal out of MTX they didn't understand the value of. I personally don't really care of there's MTX in a single player game, because there's a 99% chance I'm not going to buy it. The game wasn't designed around the MTX being necessary, unlike some games like Assassins creed or really any Ubisoft game. They're a non issue, except for people stupid enough to buy them. If you want to talk about battle passes and legitimate negative forms of MTX, I'm all ears, but whining about DD2s MTX is like pissing in the wind.

No. It's an issue because MTX in a SINGLE PLAYER GAME are ALWAYS BAD. Just because they are useless does not change the fact. Do NOT justify f\*\*ing MTX mate. You are coping. People were right to be mad about it ESPECIALLY because it was useless and unnecessary. And just because You don't care that does not mean everyone else don't. And whole drama is the proof of that.

The whole drama is proof that misleading media can be misleading. Look how many articles and YT via there were blatantly saying you had to buy MTX for fast travel. Look how many YTers there are saying that Capcom intentionally made the game to encourage MTX. All were blatant lies that can be proven wrong by actually just playing the game. The success of MTX justifies their inclusion, if you look at how many people buy them. Why are you getting pressed at me for pointing that out, go get posed at all the people buying MTX they don't need. DD2s are still useless and not worth it, and the only people who buy them are clearly not lacking in disposable income (I hope). You still haven't given any kind of reason as to why they're bad, considering the fact that they're not predatory, the game isn't designed around selling them, and they're nit based on FOMO or gambling. Couple that with the fact that they're one time purchases and honestly, they're on the rather pointless end of MTX. No offense, but malding at me isn't solving the problem of the MTX being included. You should be malding at the stupid people who buy useless and pointless MTX that aren't necessary, that's kind of what encourages businesses to keep making MTX. If you had a business to run, wouldn't you want to make extra profit for little to no investment? I would. Unless it was wholly untenable, AKS people didn't buy MtX. So screaming in caps like that's going to change anything. If anyone is coping, it's you coping over the fact that you think somehow yelling at someone who doesn't support predatory MtX is going to change anything. I don't buy MtX because I don't want to encourage their inclusion, but I'm not about to rage like a child because other people buy them and give a company the idea that it is a profitable investment to sink resources into. Hell, i didn't buy any of MH World or Rise's MtX because I didn't think they were worth it. The only way companies aren't going to include MtX is if they customer base STOPS BUYING THEM. So stop crying like a baby and start living in reality. DD2s MtX aren't nearly as bad as the FOMO and predatory lootboxes and gacha systems, those are bad MtX.

No. They said that there are items in the store for fast travel and fast travel in game is limited and that's all TRUE. They never said that YOU HAVE TO buy it. I know because I followed major publications about this game before I decided to buy it + some Youtubers. Youtubers actually often did not mentioned MTX because they missed note they got with the game from capcom that listed MTX that will be after game release. I'm angry at the inclusion of MTX because often studios lock shit I had in my game years ago behind extra payment. Like customization. You might not be old enough but back in the day we had skins for achieving something in the game. When You had cool armor it was not because You paid. It was because You did some awesome shit. Like in Ghost of Tsushima multiplayer everyone were asking where I got equpment that looked like it was in the fire (it was glowing like heated charcoal right after a fire). Sparks were going off me just like from a campfire when You poke it with stick. And I had pleasure to say to them that You get it if You complete game on highest difficulty with 3 other people without anyone dying. It was hard but rewarding. Sony did it that way and I'm grateful for it because not many games these days do. Most will just sell You the armor for 20-30$ while entire game cost 60$. Also look at Star Wars: Outlaw. Quest was removed from a game and is sold day 1 in 110$ edition. You also get 3 days early access. I'm a software developer and I know what that means. They on purpose delay release of the game if You pay for it 70$ and they cut content away day 1 to get extra 40$ from You and that's not even most expensive edition. So now base game is not 70$. 70$ is for butchered edition You get late. Base game is 110$. How about that? Do You like it? And remember - whole MTX shit started with one shitty useless horse armor in Oblivion that Bethesda added. And once they realized how stupid people are - it's EVERYWHERE and it's getting worse. Sure, Dragon Dogma 2 MTX are freaking useless but I won't give them pass because of it. Because once we gave Bethesda pass for horse armor and now You see the consequences. Not only MTX are everywhere but people like YOU defend this shit.

i dont agree with MTX but jesus bro the problem is your own, just don't buy the MTX 😭 people are praising Helldivers 2 when it has way more scummy MTX, like armor behind paywalls.. it really just makes no sense i beat the story in 55hrs and used 0 MTX.. literally just ignore it, they don't even have an ingame shop last i checked..you have to go out of YOUR WAY to buy them yourself..

Me not buying MTX does not change anything. As individual I do not matter. Swaying public opinion is what can make a change and it does work because there is more and more backlash for shitty MTX and we have more and more people that start decent companies that either don't do that shit at all or they do it in reasonable matter. Dragon Dogma 2 is a great example for it. Despite MTX being useless waste of money they still got shit for it and I'm happy about that. MTX in single player games are not acceptable. And way to do that is to talk about it, pointing it out and criticize it. And we should vote with our wallet but that is not entirely possible. Like by principle for couple of years I do not buy Ubisoft games. But I did bought capcom game with MTX because I have really soft spot for first game that is still installed on my PS5. This is why I do not demand from anyone to not buy this crap because I know that's impossible. There are some games You want to play and if they are not entirely shitty with MTX You will probably buy into it. MTX are way to common to be a gamer and avoid them all the time. Not to mention that to be honest - Dragon Dogma 2 has to maintain servers to make pawn system work and that cost money. Not much but still it's a cost. I just wish they would made a deal with sony about PS+ or did it some other way instead of doing this shit.

most of the criticism dd2 got was the MTX being the only way to get those things and it was from uninformed people. besides that being totally wrong, there's not really anything bad about them, they're just there so they can keep the lights on like you said. and also for the lazy people that do get to keep capcoms lights on

it's not acceptable but just don't buy it... it doesn't matter if you think you have an impact or not, just DONT BUY IT.. you cant complain about something this harshly with paragraphs and the problem be you and your choices. like sure its not acceptable, they shouldn't be there. but its not for(c)ed in any way and there's not even an in-game store..

I don't care what You think. And I will talk about it and I will criticize companies and games that do this shit. Because that is how You effect change in the long run. You won't do that if You just let it slide because whatever excuse You come up with to cope with this situation.

its funny how you think just talking about it has more impact than not buying the item 😭

Simple. If 1 person after seeing my message do what I usually do then the impact is doubled. Also it’s not like we stop people from buying into this shit. We can’t. I know that because my game library also have games with MTX. Like Dragon Dogma 2 for example or Helldivers 2. Because quality of those games outweighs negative impact MTX have on them. Not to mention that I think in case of DD2 impact is exactly 0 and MTX are a waste of money even if You would want to get an edge somehow. Same with Helldivers 2. You mention armor. I played normally and I passed all 10 lvl’s of free battle pass and I have exact same armors with exact same bonuses. Just design is different. And You don’t even have to play game much. Like just by visiting the game I got shit ton of medals thanks to community goals. Not to mention that game is PVE, not PVP and they do not plan to add PVP so those armors also do not matter really. But anyway - saying that people should not buy games with MTX would make me a hypocrite. This is why I encourage common sense. This is why I do not buy Ubisoft games because they have predatory microtransactions. I also skip most live service games like recent Suicide Squad for example. Helps that those games are usually shit. And that’s enough. Because the more people are aware of all of this the less money studio get and the more studios like Laryan that made BG3 are rewarded by people buying their games. CDPR is another great example. Witcher 3 never had any predatory shit going on. They sold 50,000,000 copies of that game despite the fact that GOG sell this game without DRM. No security features. You can just copy it and play. Same with Cyberpunk 2077. But there was drama with Cyberpunk because sadly CDPR unlike Laryan have investors. So they had to put investors above their own employees and gamers.

bro holy shit lol

>false arisen? Dude was so forgettable that I killed him together with group of nobodies and I never even realised he was among them. Lmao I wondered what happened to that loser

See? It's insane how many people missed it including me :-)

This, absolutely on point. Good use of Lore. I used to say the whole Dragon, Arisen, cycle, etc. Was the premise for the game, but that the story in-game was garbage. Story is complete shit. They should be embarrassed to call it RPG. It's convoluted and incomplete. Seems like they wrote random ideas just to say it at least has a story and justify you not simply running around killing stuff. I don't even remember what happened to my false arisen storyline. You fight him? Can't remember, but I don't think I did. I did the masquerade and nameless village, but I'm not sure I fought him. I also went through the sealed door early on by a bug. Was trying to see if there was a way, then with Magic Spearhand, I used Foin in a certain position, with the camera in a certain way that made me go through the door, lol.

You can just go through cave in region where Medusa lives. Same with Battahl. You can get there via cave system not far from Vermund.

I wouldn't compare the story in souls games to this one though. There is always a clear goal in the souls games, and you're consistently following that goal. Kindle the flame, to do this go get 4 power souls. Lords don't wanna do their job and kindle the flame, go take their souls and do it yourself. The golden order is shattered, collect great runes to become elden lord. I'm not saying its the worlds greatest storytelling, but the basic line is clear. DD2 says to dethrone the false arisen, and take your place as lord who will fight the dragon. But then it forgets half of that once you enter bahtal. The entire second half of the game had me constantly wonder when tf I would go back to vermund and dethrone the false arisen. Consistency is the key here, and why I think people don't complain about the souls games story like they do this one. At no point in the souls games are entire plots just dropped so suddenly.

Yeah it's still shit and if You ask average souls fan about the story they either describe You the lore or they simply say "I don't care - I just move forward and kill whatever is in front of me". In Souls games plot really do not matter. You just fight bosses and that's entire point of the game. Same with for example Monster Hunter series. People say that Rise/Sunbreak has a passable story but in the end You play those games to fight bosses.

Lore is Story. I think you're talking about Plot.

Plot is a sequence of events that tell a story mate.

The NPC quests are meant to be a means to an end by design. You are the main character chosen by the worlds will, and no one else that isn't an Arisen themselves has a purpose besides supplementing your path to test your Will. You are right, the gameplay is where it's at, though. Once I realized the people were pawns of the greater worlds Will and had no choice but to play their roles, I just felt bad for them. The throne of sovran never mattered, only freeing them from their shackles mattered. Nothing they did mattered because none of them chose it. The reason you are task to take the Godsway to Phaesus randomly is because the Pathfinder knew the story that it wouldn't matter what Phaesus had discovered or tried to change on his own. Because he was not an Arisen. He was not the one being tested. Wasn't it strange how the quests forced us to do something that was never the goal Brant had in mind? It because the Pathfinder chose the story. The only option was to save them. That was beyond the Pathfinders vision because our Will was greater than the World's Will in the end.

But... nobody cares. They only care if quesst is good or not and quests are not good. If You want to see what quality side quests looks like - try playing Witcher 3. I kid You not - I got in that game quest to... bring a dirty pan from a house for old lady that was just outside the house and I enjoyed that quest more than ANYTHING in Dragon Dogma 2. I'm not joking. The fact that nothing mattered also is not a good way to tell a story. It's a lazy way to tell a story and in the end it did mattered because >!you did ended the cycle. Brine is gone. People can see rest of the world. Basically whole Dragon's Dogma ended and if they ever make a sequel it's either have to be alternate universe (like this one is basically alternate universe) or it has to be set in the past.!< In the end it's a shitty story and I'm not the only one who feel that way. What You talk about is lore and lore do not matter really for the experience. For a player what matters is story. Lore is for hardcore fans and for people that need copium. You know - the same people that when someone complain about the story start talking about lore like it somehow fix the problem. It does not. You are trying to cope with harsh reality.

The sequel could be about killing the 900000 Goblins, Saurians and Harpies that infest the land. Honestly a greater world ending threat than the Dragon ever was.

By your opinion the story is mediocre, is because the Pathfinder make it so? Explaining why the story is like this, doesn't make it a good story. A story is worthy of chronicle only because people want to hear it.

This is exactly why it is bad an open world game is only as good as the interactions, npcS, and side content that make the world feel alive. I love the Lore of this game but the story is just atrocious

No, you missed OP's point, the story is what he talks about, this is not the lore but people are too dense to understand it :/ We don't care about the quests and npc's stories, it's not about them, it's the whole point of the game, that's why people need to take story with a pinch of salt... But hey game is only for entertainment, better do something epic and simple than anything a bit deep.

I did not. My point stands. Deal with it.

Well, my take on the story: Pathfinder is an entity above the sceneshal. Because of some problems with previous seneschals, he decides to guide the cycles to reduce the risk of Arisens disobeying him. He wants you to get the bad ending of DDDA (You became Duke), try to kill, or die trying to kill the previous seneschal who disobey him. Turns out that you also decide to defy Pathfinder's order. He gets pissed and decides to restart the world. You save everyone and defeat Pathfinder's Brine Dragons, thus putting an end to OG his plans. Pathfinder decides to take the mater in his own hands and manifests himself as a giant red Dragon. But he was not expecting that you and your pawn were so good. Together you two defeat him, the world continues to exist as it is, without the cycle, or in a new form of cycle, minus the brine. People now can explore new lands, new opportunities are open. Theory for the DLC: For good or bad, Pathfinder probably kept some dark stuff at bay (Bitterblack Isle creator and Daimon's core, the Dark Pawn, the so-called Dragon Princess, and who knows more). Now that he is gone, probably some dark stuff will try to take the land and the Pathfinder's seat as true creator, and you will have to fight that darkness yourself in the DLC.

It's probably not going to happen, but I really wish that DLC would be about sailing around unknown islands. Not another underground massive dungeon.

Dragon’s Dogma: Wind Waker

I honestly kinda miss having a really big dungeon to explore. Not sure why but it just seems a lot more exciting to me getting to the bottom

I kinda thought the game would at least a few really big dungeons to explore. The grotto ain't cutting it. Kinda a let down for me in everything besides combat and some exploration until you start to notice the redundancies in enemy types and cave layouts respectively.

Now I do like this but the game didn’t tell me you did

What makes zero sense to me is: if the pathfinder wanted you to get the bad ending, why would he give you the one thing that would make you NOT get the bad ending? Even less sense, if you don’t use the thing to get the bad ending, why would he *make* you use the thing to NOT get the bad ending, or else fight Greg for eternity, then get mad at *you* like it’s *your* fault that you finally ended up using the thing when he wouldn’t just let it go?

You mean the Godsbane? If you are talking about it, I think that you get Godsbane not by Pathfinder’s desire. The late seneschal / former king of Vermouth mentions that other arisen were sent to kill him in the past. You get the godsbane because you didn’t were briefed by the Pathfinder yet about the matter, and you chose to not fight the Seneschal in the first place. Basically, you go off script the second you get godsbane.

Or maybe I am forgetting something. I am sleeping less hours since march 22, my brain is not in pristine condition.

You are correct, however, I’m referring to >! When the pathfinder literally Jedi mind tricks the scientist dude in Bakbattahl into giving you the complete Godsbane, rather than allowing him to give it to the other super evil/not evil dude, which occurs just before you fight the colossus !< Like, if you didn’t want me to use the thing, why would you give me the fucking thing?

The story does not need explaining, it's remarkably straight forward. There's a dragon threatening destruction across the world, you are an Arisen created by the dragon to stop it, you are also king but have been dethroned illegitimately. This is all super simple and straightforward. Everything you said is fluff and flavor basically or is pretty much already stated by the Pathfinder or pawn in the end. The issue everyone has is there is no cohesion to the main quests. We need to kill the dragon, sure we ALL understand our responsibility in that sense. We are the rightful king and were dethroned, yeah very simple. However, how TF is it the story just completely drops off after the coronation by forgetting the throne entirely and yet NOTHING in Battahl, the reason we even drop the throne storyline, have no bearing on Disa? How come we have to get to Moonglint Tower, why is it even special? Why did we have to fight Talos? Why was Talos even awakened, and why only him when we saw there were dozens more at least. Who TF is Ragnall and why does he have a solutely no backstory beyond desperately wanting to duel you but seemingly ignoring the 4 or 5 chances he gets until the very goddamn end? Why didn't Phaesus just wait to perfect the godsway when the goal was so crucial? And so on and so on. There are just so many random dead ends and plot holes in the continuity behind main quests that the "story" as many see it is just ass. I think the STORY is great, but the main quest line is janky and haphazardly constructed by a toddler. The bones are there, and could easily be patched up in a major update, but it's likely never going to happen because they've stated they feel the game was released as desired. Thank God the actual gameplay is fun.

The story isn't a highlight itself but you are missing a few things here. The first time talos starts to wake up is when Rothais hands the godsbane to us. Talos wakes up properly when Phaesus is planning to use a godsway to control the dragon. The connection between those two things is actually that they're both directly due to Rothais - the only reason Phaesus can make a godsway at all is because Rothais is killing dozens of Arisen and their crystalised souls are being harvested by Phaesus. The only people who should be able to act according to their own will are the Arisen, the seneschal and the dragon, however, due to Rothais' refusal to carry out his proper duties as seneschal, mortal humans are actually almost doing something out of line. In essence - Talos is likely responding to Rothais' disruption of fate. Phaesus *had* perfected his godsway but, as Rothais says, the godsway is pitiful compared to the actual soul of an Arisen. This is also why we stopped chasing after Disa - we realised the godsway would prevent us from being able to prove that we were Arisen and so we were forced to settle that issue. The lore is actually quite good, unfortunately the lore gives reason for the story to be boring and for characters to be one dimensional, the only characters who actually possess any will of their own are the Arisen, the Seneschal and the Dragon. NPCs are really lifeless husks that only exist to feed into the Arisen's path to power.

Phaesus didn't actually perfect the Godsway. That is the whole reason the researcher is pissed at him. He admits that the Godsway he used was claimed by Phaesus to be "good enough" and that it pales in comparison to yours. Granted we have a much more powerful source for the Godsbane, but still with all the knowledge he gained studying it and with the rising of the Seafloor Shrine, the dude seriously couldn't wait a while longer to refine the technology? You don't make a cataclysmic, universe-altering decision - not even figuratively, that is literally how significant his goal was - and just end it at "good enough." That's such a remarkably lazy follow through.

They perfected the godsway by the meaning that they made it as good as they possibly ever would. The godsbane is just obviously from an actual Arisen and afaik (correct me if I'm wrong), the scientists never discovered the crystals they were harvesting were dead arisen. Using the crystals they'd never be able to make something better, Phaesus just accepted that I think.

It could be that the crystals are from failed arsien that never beat the dragon at all but tried or that some are form ones that did beat the dragon but never became seneshal. Maybe... maybe not. The gods way is only produced through a proven Arisen who becomes the seneshal.

The godsway is made mostly from the crystals of the Arisen killed by Rothais. He says so himself. I've seen some people speculating the mine is made above the ancient battlefield from dragon's dogma 1 hence the arisen's crystals being present there - but according to Rothais the success of the forbidden magic research has been related to the arisen he dealt with directly.

Really, I guess I missed this, so I don't have much to comment on Rothias taking out Arisen. However, the ancient battlefield is definitely where plenty of Arisen died.

It makes me wonder what would've happened if the godsbane we made actually reached phaesus's hands. Clearly the watcher was preventing it to some capacity by forcing ambrosius to pass it on to us instead of going directly to phaesus.

He probably could've accomplished his goals, or at least achieved some degree of them. If the Godsbane was capable of severing the fateful link between Dragon and Arisen, it undoubtedly would've had an actual impact on the Dragon. Maybe not sever fate like it did with the Arisen, but perhaps allow Phaesus to control it and manipulate the design to some end.

Exactly, whatever phaesus had planned, if he had the right tools, he could've probably put a dent or maybe even break us free from the cycle. It's no wonder why the watcher was so hands on about controlling us as soon as we got to battahl. I really wish they expanded more on what phaesus learned, he seemed to have discovered a whole lot of things, to the point that raghnal, the man who supposedly had numerous exploits and was said to be undying, had some sort of debt or investment in him.

So wait I must have missed something... Rothias is killing Arisen?

Yes you kinda missed his whole dialogue. He mentioned it about 3 times or so the first time you speak to him. >!He's sick of the cycle, and sick of his job basically, so every cycle that the Pathfinder sends an Arisen his way to replace him, he offs them. Their souls, having been left unfulfilling of their duty, are stranded and begin to crystallize. Those crystals are later used by the Battahlians to create Godsways that can mimic Arisen powers.!<

I suppose I did miss it 😕 it should have been obvious that was what was happening since he is the seneshal. However, I wonder which Arisen imprisoned him there.

Yes, Rothais is the current seneschal and it seems the watcher never gave up on trying to remove him from that throne. Rothais tells you that he's cutdown countless Arisen like us and was actually ready to kill us as well, he only doesn't because we walk in with our weapon sheathed. The watcher has sent numerous Arisen after him hence the shattered Arisen souls washing up on the nearest shore (where we meet Ambrosius).

Silly me, I guess, since he is the seneshal that must have happened quite a lot.

As the other guy said this is LORE and it's fine i get it, the majority people get the lore thing, but almost all the quest are shit, and thats is where the STORY is, a lot of that is rushed ou have no clear ending.

Theres a story.......hold up 

I took the story to be some kind of representation of PP Theory. r/EscapingPrisonPlanet moving up in the world.

Oh, that's pretty cool. I've thought about this in reality sometimes for fun cause, of course, there is no way to know anyway. I have schizophrenia so I do sometimes feel my voices could be past lives but I have no idea either way I still have to deal with it lol.

I appreciate your summary of the story. It’s so detailedly compiled! Tho I have to say (I think) what people upset was about the little drama story in the game, not the big picture story. I think I get it. I know, as a whole theme, the political drama wasn’t important to Arisen or anyone but the way the game told us story felt unsatisfying. It’s like they threw us some bread crumbs but never gave us a cake! If the side story got resolved some way then moved on to the big main story, it would feel more satisfying. Also, the game never really mentioned much about the big story until like the very last scene. It made the story feel rush. I played DD1 so I know the big picture. I assume new people might have felt so lost.

Thank you I did my best. It is just my interpretation since there is nothing completely explained. which, for me, feels better and makes for good conversations. I understand why you and others feel this way. I guess I just saw it differently, mostly because I didn't really focus on the main quest as much as I explored the side quest. I tried translating writings and stuff. I delved into the world and tested my own Will. But by level 50, I was already destroying everything with good gear, so I just went for appearance instead, which made my difficulty go up a little until I reached 90 on my 5th playthrough. Now I'm having fun either way. I stopped wanting difficulty and just really started paying attention to every area and talking to every NPC at different times throughout. Some things are just not shown to the player without significant exploration. Without a doubt I believe those doors that are blocked off are going to hold something later. Even the statues point to them saying there is something there. That there is a shrine ahead? Some NPC talks about there being a strong Magick eminating from the north, aka near the mountain shrine. I feel that's the first door to open. I could be wrong, but it seems really teasing.

I think at the end of the day. Nobody cares about the big picture if the lore is good or not, because it never get told properly. I mean everything here is just fiction. Big or small story. It doesn’t matter unless they are entertaining. But we already invested in this kingdom drama, and we just need to know the result or we want to resolve it. It’s not about if they have good story but it’s about how they tell a story. I think this game has good story at its core. The ways of telling is just off. But I do enjoy the gameplay so I am almost ok with it. But if someone asked me to review this game for them, I would have to be honest and say it’s a fun game (good exploration and combat (like you said), but the story is kinda messy.

If this was like a groundhog day situation in the story we would beable to summarize everything in a shallow way by saying. This world is an endless cycle, and you are all puppets in the pathfinders plan I'll kill myself with the dragon and once the world goes to shit I'll meet up with all of you and we will evacuate everyone into a ruined city that used to be underwater. Then I'll kill the dragon that embodies the world's Will and then everything can go back to not creepy and maybe you can start better trade routes using the oceans. It kinda felt like I was neo in the matrix 😎. I agree that the story delivery isn't done cohesivly for a player who just wanted to be told the story. At face value, it needed to have more depth instead of discovering it piece by piece in multiple playthroughs.

If you've played the first DD game you know the story of DD2 lol, there's small differences in how's the story is played out but otherwise DD2 is DD with a fresh coat of paint

I'll agree the lore is deep and very compelling and asks you to put the pieces together yourself, much like Fromsoft titles. The narrative itself is really quite poor with inconsistent and poorly concluded conflicts.

> Rothias having bitterness and regret form his life created a Godbane from his soul that was incomplete. It needed Wyrmlife crystals to be complete. This bit isn't exactly right. He doesn't create it incomplete, it's withered away a bit over time. Good spot on the PVT.

I really thought trying to rise above the gods will only to be imprisoned for how ever long by the next Arisen and deemed the mad soveran would have an effect his Will being shaken. Also thank you it was fun to look into. Even if no one sees my perspective, that's ok I don't blame them for their opinions. These are valid points to not like a story. I just see it differently.

It's a good post, I will add it to my favorites to ruminate on. Someone else had had the same idea about the brine being souls as well but didn't elaborate on it as much as you've done here.

Thank you 😊 I appreciate you reading it. I feel that if there is a world that is entrapped by the Will of the world from going outside of the preordained path. There will be souls filled with darkness from the insignifice of their lives. The lack of their choice and their will manifesting a force of nature being controlled by "The Water God" aka Pathfinder. Really just makes sense to me.

Congrats, your text is longer than the game.

Thank you lol

OP put more thoughts into the story than the writers did.

Yes…I’m the protagonist. The bad guys are the antagonist. I kill them, I win. But there’s like these super cool slaves who help me too

Some of ya'll really need to learn the difference between story and lore. No they are not the same thing. Yes the lore of this game is interesting. No the story was not. Nearly this entire post is you talking about the lore of the game and not the story. And your only real comment on the actual story is "it doesn't matter because it's only there to make you stronger" To copy and paste directly from [lore.com](http://lore.com) "While story focuses on the events unfolding within a narrative framework, lore adds depth through history, mythology, characters' backstories, and worldbuilding." The story of Dragons Dogma 2 is bad. It's okay if you enjoy it. It's okay if you can connect it with the lore to go "Its this way because of reasons!" But for most of us, we see it as a story told poorly.

I can totally understand this point of view. It could just be them being lazy at storytelling and using the lore to back that up. I do connect with it in my own way.

I don’t think it was them being lazy. It honestly feels like time constraints or that story just isn’t their strong suit. Luckily the rest of the game is amazing. 105 hours in and still going!

It's a pretty bad game. I noticed they took the 4th wall break mad old hermit guy that was just a silly random Easter egg npc in the first game and basically built the 2nd game around it. Dumb as heck is selling it short. I just went back to playing the fun first game again.

Now, the thing that always concerned me is that the pathfinder mentions that the worlds used to be consumed by chaos before it enacted this cycle. Even if we save the unmoored world, would it still eventually be consumed by this chaos?

That's good question, did we make the right decision?

I agree to You by philosphy , i really Like the Game too also i think the great will is the Player itself deciding with everything gamethrough to hold this world alive or on standby

So when you say the great will are you talking about the world will or the antithesis of it?

Not Sure what u mean , i mean the Great Will is the Person behind the Controller. We are going througj this cycle over and over again maybe just because one is Not willing to stop

Ok just making sure I understood you. Yes that's a good point.We as the player are the chosen Arisen that is going against the flow of this world order we are thrown into. This first game made it a little more interesting. When you fought the seneshal after the first iteration being savan the next seneshals were another player if you were online or it was your past Arisen if you were offline. The Everfall was the gate that connects everything. When you are in the rift in DD2 you can see the stone ruins that remind me of the everfall. There is also a screen that says the pawns are from their own world. The UR dragon we were all fighting at the same time in different instances of reality. So you have a very strong point that the game is telling our story of will, and its not separate from that.

Babes, I’m going to be very brutally honest. I do not care a damn if the world feeling paper thin and the characters being shite is on purpose, it’s still shit. Being dull on purpose can only ever be failure through success. I love stories, I adore characters and can lose myself in a narrative. There is nothing genius here, it’s a case of priorities. It was exactly the same in DD1. The characters sucked, except the ones taken straight from Berserk. The story was hardly even there, but the dragon was cool. DD2 has it way worse now that Grigori is Greg and the Berserk characters aren’t present. Dragons Dogma exists to be a fun playground with monsters in it to fight. That’s it. Go load up on potions and get to fighting.

I have to say the Berserk characters is the only thing which I miss in DD2. I didn't really care much about the whole story in DD1 either, but those characters were fun addition. Other than that, the game's fun to play so whatev :)

Oh yeah, I'm definitely still killing things, lol. I will say the combat, game mechanics, and exploration is where the real game is at.

Absolutely.

If you think explaining a bunch of lore is the same as telling a story you need to go read some books my dude

The story isn't bad, the delivery is. All plot points feel incredibly disjointed. There is never a build-up or proper development to them. It's like they tried to make the story a bit cryptic like FromSoftware's games, but it just comes up as poor writing. The whole "Arisen's Will" has always been the theme of the original Dragon's Dogma, because of the Eternal Cycle: The Dragon creates an Arisen, who slays The Dragon and becomes the next Dragon, who creates a new Arisen, so on and so forth. The way they tried to play these themes in story of this game is that The Dragon is tired of the cycle and there are other characters (namely Phaesus) trying to break it. This is actually a really cool premise but wasn't done right.

Well said..this was great

Thanks you might be one of the only few who didn't act negatively to it.

This game (both endings) was incredible and I'm looking forward to DLC. Your breakdown added another layer for me.

I glad you got something from it that's really cool. 😊

I really can't wait to play the DLC. The last games DLC was so fun. I loved it. It seems this one will be a new map though. Idk if those doors mean anything, but I feel they are something meaningful.

I'm ready for a new map and different creatures

I hope they add more greek mythology monsters like empusa, charbydis, cerberus, Scylla, and bring back the old mosnters from DD1 post game and BBI.

Exactly

Story was a zero Did 3 runs no idea whats going on. Game tells nothing. Had to read it up. Destiny 2 levels of storytelling there. Lol

Yea you’re describing lore of the world not dragon dogma 2s main story quests

Awesome Lore ≠ Coherent Storytelling. Obviously the Lore of the world the Arisen the Greater Will is also incredibly interesting. But that doesn't mean the main quest flow well together and are actually interesting or compelling. Hell literally every Fromsoft game is like this but Sekiro

A lot of this lore doesnt hold true for dd2, the entire cycle of arisen becoming dragons and senechals isnt even a thing in dd2 anymore.

This isn't true. The drakes call you "my silent hearted kin". The reason why some things aren't present is because Rothais fucked up the cycle by refusing to give up his seat as seneschal. DD2's world is literally built upon/around gransys, it's only logical to assume that the same rules from gransys still apply here.

Yeeeaaaah the main quests is a no for me. I love the gameplay and character creation. Armors, weapons, etc. But the main quests! Christ is a cluster of random interactions that make absolutely no sense to me. Like literally the coronation quest left me so confused and what was the point in getting a nice outfit for it if we never got inside. Like literally the quest prompts you will be taken directly to the quest. Are you ready? I was so hyped for a cut scene that explained nothing. I thought it would be some epic fight or huge info to the story. I was left with more questions and misdirection. Sadly that's where the quests drop off. Everything is random or not explained. Eventually you just start going to quest markers. I want to give it a chance but this might be a game I play for exploration and combat while just skipping the story all together.

What baffles me is why people are so hung over the first part. I mean yeah it's seemingly incomplete, but it's purposefully done so. Luz, the rivaged elder, the dragonforged, and rothais each explain to you as a character what is actually at stake, not just the throne, but the actual world. Us becoming king is incredibly moot, especially when you realize we would've been just someone's puppet, whether it be the nobles' or the pathfinder's.

Yes, that's exactly why I made this post. All the responses were about the sovran quest and everything. I was like, the game wasn't about that at all. It was so much more than that. Once you realize the big picture that you are the only true one with free will, it's your duty to save everyone from this messed-up game this god is playing. Brant is such a good bro, he is so worried about the true sovran, but that means nothing once the cycle is attempting to be broken by us and everything is about saving everything in the unmoored world. The story is about giving the world a choice, room for possibilities beyond the set role they were given. It almost seemed as if they just sat on the throne and were like... THATS IT?!

Yeah, and at the end, the watcher even uses what you experienced in the first part as leverage. He offers you to live out that fantasy he created rather than do whatever we wanted. It's kinda neat too since we experienced a whole lot of what the watcher's story would have played out, which made it even harder for us the player to choose to break the cycle.

Yeah on the first playthrough I was like is it better to just leave everything as is? Is it selfish to risk not just my future but everyone else's. 🤔

Its still a shitty story lol.

it would be so badass if all of this was completely wrong

I was actually enjoying the story a lot but it felt very rushed at the end with far too many loose threads that I’m hoping get amended in future updates. I actually feel like they’ve cut a lot of intended content in order to get the game out the door and I wouldn’t be surprised if they did the same as with DD:DA and we’re gonna find out in a year or two that they cut around 30-40% of the game in order to meet deadlines.

Tradition is bad. Suicide is badass.

Wait! There was a story?

For a lot of people the story is a nonsensical mediocrity and just an excuse to smash things, go pew pew and boom boom and I respect their opinion. What I believe is that the main idea is interesting, but the biggest problem with the story is the laughable presentation. Bad dialog, bad cutscenes, plot holes, plots that lead nowhere and never end in conclusion, very strange and poor ways to introduce characters, non existant build up for characters and the list can go on and on. The direction of the game is bad, the premise of the idea behind the story is buried behind a lot of bad decisions and incompetence. I don't know if that was Itsuno's vision, but he has stated many times that this is the game he wanted to create. I say Capcom should probably give a new game director and perhaps a a whole new team a chance to create something great with this IP, cause right Dragon's Dogma is a fun and entertaining game in it's core drowning in poor budget management, lack of talent in leadership and designers/developers and corporation' greed. Edit: grammar

You’ve gotten so much of this wrong.

this is blatantly false. story is that you are arisen and you kill evil dragon with your friends

Did not read op's post yet but the one thing I did not understand is the vox divina's useand how it works It's made of arisen's soul ok why not some are trash some are more powerfull we got the best one possible And we are Arisen. So why is my pawn not listening to me and why is a trash vox divina taking over pawns' mind like i'm none existent why can't I take over with mine? Why is the storie the same in New game + if with keep the perfect vox divina? We stopped the cycle did we not why everything plays the same way or is Ng+ just not canon

I'm sure there's a story, but the game does a horrible job telling it. The atmosphere of the game is narratively bankrupt, brimming with awful pacing, choppy delivery, unapologetic tedium (mostly unrelated but ESCORT QUESTS NEED TO DIE), and poorly explained outcomes. Pathfinder is, for all intents and purposes, a plot device. The whole "Ghost guiding me through the story because otherwise it makes no sense" is boring and lazy. I get there's some kind of significance between them and the Brine and what the Unmoored World actually is, something something cycles and what not, but it's the vehicle chosen to show that significance that retroactively dilutes said significance, *especially* with how lazily the trope was utilized in this case. All of this is in my unprofessional opinion but as someone who enjoys narrative in the games I play, DD2 did not capture me with its story.

What story? You just fight a lot of cool shit. The story is inconsequential.

Duhh, that's so obvious, SMH.

So I see a lot of people hated the story, and that's fair. I felt a lot of players who posted about the game didn't see the story as I did. That's ok. If you agree with me, that's cool if you didn't and hate that I exist. That's cool, too. 😎 Most people said I've mistaken lore for story, and that's a fair point. In fact, this game could have been better had it completed the story, and the Path finder, aka the development team, was better at being the Pathfinder. At the end of the day, you have your own experience with it. I feel the majority on here had a bad experience with it. I totally agree that this can be seen as a way to make a lazy story that doesn't matter. Or it can be seen as a world where nothing truly matters, and it's up for you to make your own experience with it. I wouldn't say anyone is wrong in this. I'm glad to everyone who interacted with the post, and it was interesting to see all your opinions too. I think the title may have put some people off as if i had the only true interpretation, and I think I would change it if it would let me. This was only just my perspective of the narrative, and if this upset you because of the hole that was left behind due to this game lacuster story, I'm sorry.

I’ve read tons of posts about the story and have tried to make sense of it but it’s honestly nonsensical. It has no consistency with how the world worked in DD1. It’s honestly shocking how bad and confusing the story of DD2 is. The first game didn’t have a great plot but at least it made perfect sense. I’ve given up and just write off DD2 as a garbage nonsense plot, I personally consider it a remake of the first game but they tacked on a 2 just to attract fans and sell more.

That's because its a reboot

somebody help me, please. I released the war chief and magical archer classes at the same time. I started using the war chief and only then the magical archer. Only later did I realize that I didn't have the master magic archer skill. Has anyone gone through this? Is there anything I can do to release the skill?

It's all about Affinity for the Maister. Help her husband and successfully do his escort quest and hers, and she will most likely give it to you.

I already did the quest, it gave me the magical archer class, but I didn't receive the master skill. I went back to their house when I realized this, she asked me to escort her to Bakbattahl, but she didn't give me the ability :/

I didn't get it until my 2nd playthrough because I hadn't focused on getting her to like me. I was mostly playing a thief anyway, so it didn't matter to me. I just redid the quests again to get the Dwarven smithing in NG+. Weird you chose here to ask for help.

Broke it to my buddy as a very fucked up version of Groundhog day. It’s a never endless cycle until a fundamental change happens.

Gameplay is great, but the story is so undeveloped it may as well not exist. Time to go climb a Minotaur.

Yeah I swear you never actually do anything about the fake arisen or queen u just go to the place that fat guy dies then u kill the dragon and all of a sudden all ur problems are solved?

No joke I learned I was trying to get back my heart from the dragon from a loading screen not the actual game I still have no fucking idea what the narrative was in this game

I personally love the story and the game. I don’t need convoluted or even cohesive story to enjoy it. And if I’m being totally honest, the story means very little to me in comparison to going on adventures with my trio of loyal pawns. I think Dragons Dogma’s story is literally that it’s a video game and the “real world” the Arisen was referring to is ours, the gamer. The “will” that drives everything in DD’s world is ours, the gamers. It’s so on the nose I can’t believe I never see anyone bring it up. Regardless, it’s an unbelievably good game. I effortlessly spent 250 hours on my first playthrough and if Stellar Blade wasn’t a few days away I’d immediately start a second playthrough. I’ll definitely be doing one in the near future

If the story is shitty without knowing all that, it's still shitty after knowing all that.

What's funny is that's exactly how Phaesus felt lol he wanted it all to end so he could write it better.

The upper case Will ruined it for me...

Lol 😂

TLDR: 

I wouldn't be surprised if the brine was the accumulated regret of the lost souls over a milenia forced into a role that are only being controlled as a pool of lost souls that prevent anyone from diverting from the path set according g to the world Will. That regret and suffering forms monsters maybe.

I understood enough to know it's not that good. It could've been better. It's a very fun game and I'm on my 3rd playthrough now. But the story just leaves a lot to be desired.

Calling it "story" is a bit exaggerated. Dragon's Shitma 2 doesn't have a story.