Summary

  • There are many games less annoying than Dragon's Dogma 2, but few that are better
  • The pitfalls and quirks will be the key talking points, but games that make us care are the most memorable
  • Sucks to be George

Conventional wisdom dictates that you praise something if you like it, and criticise something if you don't like it. That's a core reason why some gamers don't see eye to eye with games journalists - we criticise games ergo we must hate games ergo we're in the wrong job.

But this isn't always true - sometimes you have a lot more things to criticise about a game you love, because you love it for how imperfectly interesting it is, while other games are so bland and predictable that you can't say much about them at all. Dragon's Dogma 2 is the perfect example of how easy it is to criticise a game you love.

I Love Dragon's Dogma 2, But...

On the latest edition of TheGamer round table, I joined our esteemed host Eric Switzer and the False Sovereign (plus Lead News Editor) George Foster to discuss Dragon's Dogma 2 in all its glory. And we all agreed, what a lot of glory it has. All three of us expect it to feature highly on our individual Game of the Year list and to be a major contender in TheGamer's overall list and our annual awards, TheGamer Aces. And yet we couldn't stop nitpicking.

Every few minutes, as you'll see in the video above, we stop ourselves to give some version of the qualifier "but I still love the game". Trust me, that's more entertaining than it sounds. Sometimes you can get drawn into this groupthink when your job is to talk and write and think about games all day. Collectively as a culture we throw out the word 'masterpiece' for every triple-A game that isn't a total flop, and can convince ourselves that we love games that really we think are just okay. But this is not the case with Dragon's Dogma 2.

For one thing, I'm not sure it's a masterpiece. I think I’d go for 4/5 but for entirely different reasons than most games get that score. Typically, triple-A games land 4/5 because they're very good and technically polished and offer a consistently high quality experience, but they're too safe or fail to offer much in the way of creativity. Dragon's Dogma 2 is the opposite - thoroughly creative and true to its own vision, but very rough around the edges in ways that work against, rather than with, the gameplay experience.

Dragon's Dogma 2 Has A Lot Of Frustrations, But The Game Would Be Worse Without Them

The central issue we all had with it was the story. Quick to offer our defence of the game, we all felt the narrative was the least compelling part and was satisfactory if perfunctory. It constantly feels like a missed opportunity instead of the narrative elevating the game as a whole. The quest that requires you to 'sneak' into a castle room, which will not be failed even if you are spotted entering but will always fail automatically once you grab the treasure, is a major culprit. The lack of intrigue at the masquerade ball (plus the castle inexplicably not hosting this on certain days) is another.

In one instance, George was asked by a sculptor to find a griffin to fight - I had this quest and enjoyed it, but the vitality of the world worked against George as he fought the beast on the way to the quest marker, only for it to not 'count'. But these are two very different elements. The flatness of the actual quests is a valid critique, but one that, were we not on a podcast discussing the game, we might not have mentioned.

Most games make the story crucial to the experience, or disregard it entirely. Dragon's Dogma 2 falls in the middle - the narrative is an important through road, but it understands that everyone's takeaway from the game will be the unique incidents they (and only they) encounter. That unpredictability leaves the game open to criticism, even from people who don't care that the entree is lacking because they were always here for the side dishes.

Dragon's Dogma 2 Will Be Remembered For How Unique It Is

George's is more a case of ‘you win some, you lose some’. Had that happened to me, I probably would have been highly irritated that I conquered a mighty griffin for naught, especially as in the actual quest you only need to get it to half health to complete the task. But Dragon's Dogma 2 constantly throws up random events as part of its charm, and everyone would rather that than the alternative of scripted dull encounters that arrive predictably. Conclusion? Sucks to be George.

By the time we got to talk about Dragonsplague, it felt like an afterthought. This element of the game, where your pawns can contract a deadly It Follows-style disease from the rift and unleash murderous chaos on unsuspecting villages, is one of the boldest swings a triple-A game has made in recent memory, especially when tied to the solitary save file. That will forever be a crucial piece of Dragon's Dogma 2 lore. But for Eric, George, and I, we killed or swapped our pawns as soon as there was a hint of plague about them, and as such nothing happened.

It's a similar story with the fast travel, or lack thereof. I still think it's an excellent mechanic that emphasises - as I so poetically put it in the video - that it's all about the journey rather than the destination. The story quests aren't up to much, so the game constantly pushes you to find emergent stories across the map, like two cyclopes fighting each other allowing you to sneak in while they're weak and plunder their loot.

This happened to me, and is part of the reason I think Dragon's Dogma 2 is one of the coolest ever to do it, even if I'm not convinced it's an all-time great.

Eric largely agreed with the overall game design decisions, but when it came to fast travel his main anecdote was the time he found a magic shortcut, then went back later and it was gone, meaning he had to go the long way around. No matter how admirable any given element of a game may be, no matter how successful it is in upholding its thematic purpose in the worldbuilding, the thing most players will talk about is that one time it annoyed them.

Dragon's Dogma 2 is a game of risks, and deserves to be lauded for that. The way it sticks to its guns (or magical bows) will cause some annoyances that players need to vent about, but we all vent about things we love - how many times have you vented about your friends, family, or partner? Staff at TheGamer who all love me dearly, how many times have you vented about me? Dragon's Dogma 2 is a game we all need to vent about, but the fact it inspires such strong reactions and keeps us playing anyway is what makes it so great. Have a listen and vent along with us.

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Dragon's Dogma 2

Action RPG Systems 4.5/5 OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Avg: 87/100 Critics Rec: 91% Released March 22, 2024 ESRB Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Language, Sexual Themes, Violence Developer(s) Capcom Publisher(s) Capcom Engine RE Engine
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Dragon's Dogma is the long-anticipated sequel to Capcom's action RPG. Once again taking on the role of the Arisen, the game promises full customisation in how you create your character and play through your story.

Platform(s) PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S Powered by Expand Collapse