I don't remember having to really concern myself with gear until the middle parts of Bitterback Isle. And even then I was able to complete BBI with a mix of regular and tier 1 BBI loot. The post-game can become a gear grind if you let it, but I was doing fine finishing up achievements with a mix of tier 2 and some tier 3.I think it's fun too.
But, don't you find the health and stamina system problematic, or that the combat is too reliant on you having the right gear? Does these aspects don't remove some of the fun out of the game for you, as it did for me?
Dragons Dogma is only good if you are prepared to focus on the strong aspects and ignore the massive flaws. You need to ignore the broken inventory management, the limited pawn system, the lack of balance once you level up a bit, the poor sense of progression, the mediocre quests, the worse than mediocre quests like escorting people around town, the lack of story, the lack of characterisation, the repetitive locations and enemies, having to walk the same paths over and over even with fast travel and most of all having to stop every three seconds because your fucking stamina makes you run like an asthmatic who has a rather nasty flu.
All that aside it is a good game.
The combat is second to none. The rest of the game is interesting and has several flaws,but the fighting alone kept me going all the way they.
There is a big misconception on what Dragon's Dogma nails, and where it fails. DD doesn't have a combat second to none. It has a character control that is second to none. Movement, platforming, animation (as a combat mechanism) all of these are excellent.
The game is really underwhelming, and sometimes plain terrible, when it comes to so many things related to its combat and gameplay in general. The way consumables work break the game from the start. The way statistics work make enemy encounters extremely unbalanced from the very first to the very last. Enemies themselves are also very few and with painfully few archetypes. Character progression never works as it should. Pawns, as great as they can be once in a while, are extremely counterproductive most of the time.
Joseph Anderson's video that has already been posted explains everything perfectly. It is a good game but with many and pretty vital flaws. I fear that the way we usually praise it, something that probably even I have done, may be setting some wrong expectations to those who plan to play the game.
Dragon's Dogma Online even has a superior soundtrack (IMO) to the original, which is saying something. Just listen to this stuff:
Lindwurm/Minor Dragon Battle Theme
End of the Struggle, DDON Version
Battle with Diamantes
The Golden Alchemical Dragon
I just love the style they have going here. Too bad about the lack of a Western release, tho. Still waiting for it, even.
I disagree, because while the game had its quirks it really is a sum of its parts -- the whole game is entertaining through and through. The boss battles were a delight, and the post-end game continuum has some of the best dungeon-crawling I've had the pleasure of playing. There's is no design flaw that breaks the whole game... And to your point, it's immensely satisfying to zip through the world because the controls are very, very good.
What do you mean by tactile? Animations? Controls? If so, I've covered those things as explanations for the praise of the combat system.
Dragon's Dogma is just a game that's wholly lacking on all fronts. Most can admit the story, characters, and world are uninspired and uninteresting, leaning on the "stellar gameplay" as reasons for its praise. But the gameplay itself is shallow, masquerading as an action RPG that requires player mastery to improve, when in reality it offers combat that in many ways is a simpler, flashier Skyrim, without any of that games' strengths to carry it.
You've gone way off the rails here, mate. The game didn't click with you and that's fine but trying to tear down the combat, which is almost universally praised, seems misguided. As an aside I really, really liked the world it's set in. You say plain, I say grounded. I'd take DD's authentic feeling countryside over Elder Scrolls medieval fantasy theme park any day.
I have to laugh at the "no skill" comments, I'm sure fighting a living armour in the sewers, while your lantern is out, while an executioner is trying to bull rush you and a gore ogre/death just spawned in requires "no skill".
I wouldn't even call dark souls entirely skill based either, if at all; sure skill is a huge factor in pvp, but the pve encounters are very simple ignorance exploitation.
This is most evident with the very first boss in dks1, the asylum demon.
You can just run and ignore the encounter, or you can stay, die a couple of times to figure out the patterns, and then just maul it.
In fact, after beating dks once, I ran through it naked with just a club and had little trouble.
This is bit of a weird post. Just so I get you right, when you are saying you played through Dark Souls naked with just a club I assume you did the whole "soul level 1 run" thingie? Are you also claiming it took no skill to do? If so, that is some next level hidden brag posting.
Nah, I think my comment is a pretty accurate assessment of combat in DD. It's not a skill based action RPG, and I've explained why I say this repeatedly. Its combat is much closer to Skyrim than it is to Dark Souls, but Skyrim has a lot more going for it than combat...and DD has nothing else.
Nah, I think my comment is a pretty accurate assessment of combat in DD. It's not a skill based action RPG, and I've explained why I say this repeatedly. Its combat is much closer to Skyrim than it is to Dark Souls, but Skyrim has a lot more going for it than combat...and DD has nothing else.
Can't agree in the slightest. Whiterun, Markarth, and Riften off the top of my head were all more visually interesting, had more character, had more interesting NPCs, quests, music...the list goes on. I remember first reaching Gransys and thinking "This is kinda bland, I wonder what the other cities in the game will be like". Haha.I would easily put Dragon's Dogma above Skyrim in term of aesthetics and world, even if the pay off is a ways off. You can improve DD by ignoring 95% of side-quests, while Skyrim runs sub-mediocre the whole way through. Running through Gransys at night the first few times is more exciting than pretty much anything you'll do in Skyrim (although the first or second dragon can compete). If you are lucky and your stats match the encounter (or is only below by a reasonable extent), you do get something pretty amazing - this is never true for Skyrim, combat is never close to that good. (I did have some fun using bows and illusions during first dungeon when the balance was totally against my favor though).
Nah, I think my comment is a pretty accurate assessment of combat in DD. It's not a skill based action RPG, and I've explained why I say this repeatedly. Its combat is much closer to Skyrim than it is to Dark Souls, but Skyrim has a lot more going for it than combat...and DD has nothing else.
See previous posts for answers.Did you ever happen to fight the living armours on Bitterblack Isle or anything there really? Are aiming for weak points on the fly; traversing monsters to hit said weak points without being thrown; stamina management; risk/reward of trying to land a high damage spell with crazy long cast time in a frantic melee; avoiding monsters who go berserk etc not considered skill-based? Which aspect of these things is like Skyrim to you?
Did you just maybe expect something completely different?
See previous posts for answers.
I explain why I think I said DD's combat is not skill based over multiple post throughout the thread. I even provide video proof explaining it. I even answered your question regarding Bitterblack Isle in a previous post (I've only completed the vanilla title, never bothered with Dark Arisen).Well, you didn't really answer any of my questions in the post. You say you just spam light attacks until you had stamina to do a heavy one but I've given many examples of things that happen besides that. The closest I can come to understanding your viewpoint is that the base game does become very easy when you level up a lot. But you only need to go to BBI to see the combat system shine when the difficulty is ramped up.
Oh man you're missing out if you haven't played DA+BBI, even as someone who wasn't thrilled with the base game. BBI is the best showcase of the combat system, and it's where your character builds really come under pressure. Even as someone with high expectations for ARPG combat systems, like you sound like you are, the BBI experience is worth the price of admission. It's a lot of fun.I explain why I think I said DD's combat is not skill based over multiple post throughout the thread. I even provide video proof explaining it. I even answered your question regarding Bitterblack Isle in a previous post (I've only completed the vanilla title, never bothered with Dark Arisen).
Oh man you're missing out if you haven't played DA+BBI, even as someone who wasn't thrilled with the base game. BBI is the best showcase of the combat system, and it's where your character builds really come under pressure. Even as someone with high expectations for ARPG combat systems, like you sound like you are, the BBI experience is worth the price of admission. It's a lot of fun.
Forget about the comparisons to the Souls series, DD's BBI is really something special, and could have been a stand alone game.
That's not what I'm saying, I'm saying as soon as the ignorance is gone from the encounter, most of souls is pretty easy.
Whereas if I boot up bayonetta to fight father rodin right now, he'd probably destroy me.
What a silly hyperbole. Dragon's Dogma is great, but the only thing it truly does better than Souls games is the character creator, the archery, the magic, and the monster weak part/climbing bit. Souls games have better level design, balance/difficulty, monster design, art direction, etc.Dragon's Dogma is a better game then all of the Dark Soul games put together.
If I don't like Dark Souls because of how slow the combat is and because of how little direction it gives on where to go when, would I like Dragon's Dogma?
Combat is faster, yes. You can also consult a map if you're lost.If I don't like Dark Souls because of how slow the combat is and because of how little direction it gives on where to go when, would I like Dragon's Dogma?
If I don't like Dark Souls because of how slow the combat is and because of how little direction it gives on where to go when, would I like Dragon's Dogma?
All right, I'll give it a try, thanks. Its not just that not knowing where to go for Dark Souls; it was also getting destroyed by enemies I'm not ready to fight yet by wandering into places I'm not supposed to be that bugged me. As long as I can avoid that and have much faster, more action-y combat, I'm happy.You'll appreciate the combat immensely. It's closer to good character action games at times than anything present in DS and the magic system/visual style is head and shoulders above a majority of other action rpgs...
The direction part though? DD can be just as and sometimes more obtuse with it's missions and story structure. You won't really have a hard time navigating towards the end of the main story line but it's incredibly easy and quite common on your first few plays through the game to just completely miss rather large and involved side quests. In some instances you won't even know they are there until you check a very odd box of conditions.
I have infinitely more fun just putzing around in Dragon's Dogma for whatever that's worth.
I bought Dark Arisen on PS3 ages ago from Gaf hype, and from the amount I played I thought it was decent but not really amazing. In particular I didn't really understand what was so good about the combat (coming from a Devil May Cry fan).
I'm considering this thread more, and I'm struggling to think of ANYTHING I think Dragon's Dogma did better than Dark Souls 3. Combat is worse. Art design is worse. Story is worse. Music is worse. Writing's worse...yeesh.