Speaking Loudly: Dragon's Dogma

Hello there, humans and otherwise! Today is the debut of another new feature for my still-in-debut-stages blog. I like to call it Speaking Loudly and no, it doesn't actually involve me yelling at you. I don't like to raise my voice unless I really have to. In any case, these segments involve me giving my personal assessment of some kind of media in word form, be it a video game or a movie...most times, it'll be games, though.

A warning: this info spiel may have spoilers, but hopefully not many.

With that, let's get into this with this feature's first entry:

First, an overview. Dragon's Dogma is an open-world action/adventure game set in a medieval world where heroes are few and monsters are plenty. You play as a character of your own creation who bares the title of "Arisen" and that is somehow important. Then again, I would think that you would be a noteworthy person simply because you survived something as drastic as...a massive dragon ripping out your heart and eating it. Right away, you see what you're dealing with: a game that is sort of crazy in its own right. After discovering your "special-ness" you pick up a weapon (which is how you determine your starting class or "vocation") and head out to find the winged lizard (who hopefully isn't an ancestor of mine) who ate your freakin' heart right in front of your face, completing quests and slaying monsters on the way. You know, RPG stuff.

Speaking of the slaying of monsters, I'm now going to talk about one of the best aspects of Dragon's Dogma's gameplay and the element that I believe puts it on top of any other game of this type: the combat. I love the combat in this game! It just feels so...right. Taking an enemy down in DD requires skill and proper exploitation of your enemy's weakness. Unlike most games of this type, when you hit an enemy (or when an enemy hits you) in DD, you feel it. I'm talking about a tactile, satisfying feeling that says "I really railed on that dude with that sword". And then the challenge. The LEGITIMATE challenge; DD is cheap in no way. If you die, it was YOUR fault, not the game's. The controls are responsive and collision detection is pitch perfect; the lack of lock-on is no excuse for failure. Then again, this is coming from someone who religiously plays Monster Hunter, so that might have something to do with my ability to deal with that. And then there are your pawns; pawns are special spirit warriors that fight at your side and they're one of DD's most integral elements. Your pawns can take on any of the game's vocations (being strider, fighter and mage along with the advanced versions of those and the hybrid jobs) and the one that you create, you create through the same editor that you use to make your own character.

"Wait Djermengandre, you only get to create ONE pawn? That means ONE helper?! Considering how challenging you say the game is, that doesn't sound very fair!" I hear you say. Well...that's what your internet connection is for. You can recruit the main pawn of anyone else who is playing the game if they have put their pawn online and through doing this, you can create a party of up to four adventurers who are ready for anything...except that ogre that you thought you were strong enough to fight. I just wish you could recruit (or create) a fighter bear. Oh yeah, and you can also fine-tune the behavior of your pawns through use of the Knowledge Chair. Don't like your pawn running to pick up items in the heat of battle? Sit 'em in the chair. Do you want them to talk less? Chair. Do you want them to pick up fallen allies and bring them to you so you can revive them? DA FREAKIN' CHAIR!

As far as open-world games are concerned, DD is an actual GAME and not some over-rated walking simulator.

Acquiring target...YOUR FACE.

Alright, much as I would love to go on at length about the combat, let's talk about something else...like the graphics. DD's graphics are pretty good; about what you would expect from a current-gen game. Some of the textures are muddier than what I would like, but overall, the game looks good. It's certainly not going to burn your eyes with its ugliness or something like that, but at the same time, it may not dazzle those who play PC games at the highest possible settings. However, one thing I really like about DD's presentation is the fact that the world actually moves. Trees and grass sway, leaves float through the wind, far-off seas churn...everything (or maybe "e'erything") that you would expect to move does exactly that. There are also lots of people walking around towns and they stumble and stuff when you run into them. It's great.

The soundtrack...you know, I've been playing the game for some thirty or so hours and I haven't heard that much music. It's probably because they save all of the really good themes for important events and battles, but I would really have liked a much meatier playlist to accompany me on my grand travels through this massive world. The songs I've heard I liked, but I just wish there was more music behind you when you're dashing across some massive field. The sound effects are really good and fit the subject; wolves howl, ogres sound kind of like gorillas (they also act like them) and bandits talk trash because they think you won't kick the balls out of them.

Oooooh boy....

As you would expect from a game like this, DD has lots of sidequests and places for you to complete and explore. Most of it is the usual stuff like "kill this many monsters" or "find this item", but there are some others that are like "follow this dude at night and be all stealthy about it". Really, I don't care what the quest is as long as it ends in an epic battle. I'm not going to give an hour count for the entire experience, mostly because I don't think it's worth trying to devalue the experience a good game can give you by trying to give an estimated amount of time that you'll spend playing it. I'll just say that if you find that you like the game, you'll be playing this one for a while.

...And I think that pretty much it. Dragon's Dogma is a wonderful game that is just the breath of fresh air that the open-world genre needed. Finally, we have an open-world RPG with an engaging combat system and actually rewards you for playing it rather than looking at it. Most of the gaming press is determined to shut this game down for some reason; I've found that most of their complaints are completely invalid. That view is immediately assisted when they come out comparing this game to the likes of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (which I've also played). Dragon's Dogma is not Skyrim and Skyrim is not Dragon's Dogma. You may see mediocre scores coming out of the press for this game; don't listen to them. I implore you, if you want to try an open-world game with tight, responsive, rewarding gameplay, pick up Dragon's Dogma. At the very least, download the demo to see what I mean about the combat.

Stomp ya later and thanks for listening!