Summary
- Dragon's Dogma 2 is designed to be frustrating and brutal, emphasizing the harsh realities of becoming a hero in a fantasy world.
- The game's mechanics, like Dragonsplague, offer consequences for actions and make the world immersive, with impactful decisions.
- Capcom's decision to reduce the chances of encountering Dragonsplague goes against the game's design philosophy and unique worldbuilding.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 is meant to annoy you. It’s a game 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:built to frustrate and infuriate, because that’s how it elates you; when you arrive at your destination, battered and bruised and desperately needing an inn rest, you feel the intense flood of relief as your wounds are healed. You donဣ’t get that same sense of satisfaction if every encounter with a horde of goblins is a self-indulgent power fantasy in which you splat them all with a single swing of your sword.
Capcom made 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dragon’s Dogma 2 deliberately abrasive. From the 🐲brutal combat and stunlock that sometimes teeters over the perilous edge of too unfair, to griffins swooping down to join your battle with a local ogre, this game wants to depict the brutal realities of becoming a hero in a fantasy world.
Even the ending plays into this (spoilers in this paragraph, obviously). Simply slaying Grigor🎶i the Red 𝓀Dragon does not win the day. The Arisen is no traditional hero. Sure, slaying the dragon allows you to sit on the throne, but the cycle ♐continues. Even beating the game is not the end.
While we’d all like a bit more from the Unmoored World, it and New Game Plus are folded into the game’s narrative in an incredibly clever manner. Starfield tried to do the same, but since the rest of the game was more focused on free roaming exploration rather th🗹an breaking cycles, it d🌊idn’t hit the same.
Dragon’s Dogma 2’s cycles deserve their own article, but it’s worth thinking about why Capcom doesn&rsq☂uo;t let you 💜have multiple save files.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 wouldn&r💙squo;t be the same without being able to climb on a boss’ back to deliver the killing blow. It wouldn’t be the same without being able to lure a pack of wolves away from your position by throwing a scrag of meat. It wouldn’t be the same without the ever-present threat of city-devastating Dragonsplague. So why is Capcom making players less likely to encounter the Pawn affliction in its first major patch?
There was a public outcry against Dragonsplague when players first stumbled across it, and it’s easy to see why. Entire towns and cities were destroyed by an afflicted Pawn, including quest givers and key personnel. They would respawn after a few days, but if you couldn’t wait you’d have to head to the morgue and start using precious Wakestones. It’s a bold game mechani🦄c, especially seeing as it doesn’t distinguish between important characters and mindless NPCs, but that’s exactly what made it great.
There’s nothing that ruins your immersion more 🥂than important characters being immortal. Commander Ikande is unkillable in the moment you try to betray SysDef in Starfield. That annoying kid in Whiterun is immortal because killing children is bad, apparently. This wasn’t meant to go so hജard on Bethesda, but those two examples immediately spring to mind.
Drꦺagon’s Dogma 2 isn’t perfect, but it certainly is immersive. Your actions have consequences. Attacking a dragon near a griffin nest will entice the latter to join the fray. Taking too long to complete a quest may result in the world completing it for you. My colleague Jade King found that out the hard way, as she missed the entire Gigantus fight and, in doing so, made the endgame harder for herself. The Arisen you may be, but life in Vermund and Battahl does not revolve around your actions. The world isn’t put on hold while you complete side quests and grind♈ Wyrmslife Crystals.
Only a handful of players have actually experienced the Dragonsplague. They kicked up such a fuss because of the dramatic repercussions of their inaction (Pawns warn you about the illness multiple times) that every other player was immediately on the lookout for the telltale signs. Red eyes, headaches, and a propensity for violence immediately resulted in Pawns getting dunked into the Brine, thus even players who came into close contact with Dragonsplague didn’t feel its true wrath▨.
I love this aspect of community. Players warned each other about a꧃ deadly plague so that others could protect themselves from the rare instance. But it doesn’t impact everyone. I’ve got nearly 60 hours in the game and haven’t even seen a hint of rouge in my Pawns’ irises. I’d wager that the majority of players have had the same experience. And, now that the plague’s effects are so widely documented, even if you notice the signs, you can avoid the repercussions.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 is meant to be brutal and abrasive. It’s meant to be a gritty fantasy world with no care if you survive or perish. Capcom reducing the chances of encountering Dragonsplague goes against all of the design philosophies of the game. I’ve been summoning Pawns willy nilly (now that I’ve 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:come to terms with bre🍃aking up with them, anyway) to try to see the effects of the affliction for myse🍎lf. It sounds so cool. I want my cities ravaged by a murderous Pawn. I want Battahl’s prejudices to be justified,♚ and to wreak revenge in the same villainous swoop. I want the most messed-up world state imaginable. But Capcom’s cowardice is making that more difficult.
Capcom sho🐓uld have stuck to its guns. It made a great game in Dragon’s Dogma 2, filled with wonderful details, clever mechanics, and ingenious interactions. Stamina regenerating slower when you’re going uphill is a tiny touch, but sells you on the world. Suffering from the effects of Dragonsplague is a🌄 clever, brutal glimpse of Capcom’s commitment to its abrasive setting.
In a pre-social media world this would have been the whispers of playgrounds and deep discussion🌊s on dedicated forums. This would have been hailed as a magical masterstroke of worldbuilding. In 2024, players want an easy life. They want power fantasies and don’t want to be challenged. Capcom had something ferociously beautiful, and it should not compromise that vision to validate the feelings of weak-minded Arisen.
