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[IbizaPocholo]

Dragon's Dogma: The Most Influential Game No One Ever Copied - IGN

We talk to Hideaki Itsuno about his strangest creation - and why no one's stolen its ideas.

uk.ign.com

Don’t take my word for it, take creator Hideaki Itsuno’s. I ask him what he thinks Dragon’s Dogma did well that other games haven’t matched. He can’t keep it to one answer: “I think the three-dimensional combat based around climbing onto monsters’ bodies still holds up against other titles now. I also haven’t seen the pawn system anywhere else since. The way forgeries worked in the game was very clever, and I also think that Dragon’s Dogma has the best and scariest night-time of any RPG!”

I emailed the director to talk about the odd legacy of this game - a passion project for him, albeit a passion project with the kind of budget you’re given if you’re the person that heads up the Devil May Cry series. It’s a game I also love dearly, and have just finished again by means of the excellent Switch port. And while playing it the best part of a decade later, I realise we’ve still not seen anything else quite like it - never mind a sequel. There seems no one better to talk with about why that might be.

I start by asking Itsuno why he thought the game got that slightly muddled first reaction, and he is decidedly more forthright than I expected: “The pawn system and the game’s interpretation of RPG gameplay via realtime action were, I think, difficult to understand by players at first glance. To be honest, I’m not even sure all the internal staff fully understood it either.” Then I ask him what he feels the game’s key innovations were: he mentions the pawn system and Capcom’s action being applied in an RPG context. Essentially, the most important parts of the game were also the biggest perceived barriers to entry.

I ask if he purposely created something that would baffle people, a shock to the established system: “My approach to game design has always been to envision a game that I would want to play, and reverse engineer from that vision. For Dragon's Dogma I wanted to create a game where you could be connected with a lot of people but not have to worry about the courtesies one generally has to consider when playing online with others, and I wanted to play an RPG with the more troublesome aspects stripped away - so I designed the game to fulfill those two requirements. At the time there was no game that fulfilled either of these aspects. As a result, you have a game that plays like nothing that's ever come before.”

check the link for more.

 

[Katsura]

He is not wrong. If only Capcom had more faith in the game during development, it would have been even more epic. As it stands, it's still one of the best ARPG ever made in my opinion

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

It's strange to harp on the pawn system. Yes, it allowed players to swap pawns and share items, but that's nothing more impressive than what we saw in 3DS Street Pass titles. The climbing and the open-ended combat are what set it apart, even influencing Monster Hunter.

 

[klosos]

Yes , combat is excellent , the monsters are great , Pawn system love it . I just wished the world was more interesting and the quests where more drawn out , instead of escort missions and such. Dragons Dogma 2 Please

 

[The_Mike]

Gameplay was weak. Combat was bad. The open world felt like corridors. No wonder no one copied the game.

 

[16bitwarzvet]

Loved this game...can't believe we haven't got another one. The combat was awesome, monsters were wicked looking, pawn system was cool (tis weak to fire!), and the world was really interesting. They only needed to tweak the story a bit and the quest options. Day one for Dragon's Dogma 2!

 

[sublimit]

It's strange to harp on the pawn system. Yes, it allowed players to swap pawns and share items, but that's nothing more impressive than what we saw in 3DS Street Pass titles. The climbing and the open-ended combat are what set it apart, even influencing Monster Hunter.

It has nothing to do with 3DS Street Pass titles. The Pawn system was all about tweaking your Pawn behavior in battle,matching it with the right-skills and weapons while making it look as bad ass as possible. It was one of the most addicting features in the game because it made you constantly check to see if someone hired your Pawn and how many rift crystals it brought. It's like making your own custom car and constantly fine tuning its engine while also changing its exterior,

It was a brilliant system and as unique as the online features of Demon's Souls. With that said there is lots of room for improvements of the Pawn system in the sequel.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

It has nothing to do with 3DS Street Pass titles. The Pawn system was all about tweaking your Pawn behavior in battle,matching it with the right-skills and weapons while making it look as bad ass as possible. It was one of the most addicting features in the game because it made you constantly check to see if someone hired your Pawn and how many rift crystals it brought. It's like making your own custom car and constantly fine tuning its engine while also changing its exterior,

It was a brilliant system and as unique as the online features of Demon's Souls. With that said there is lots of room for improvements of the Pawn system in the sequel.

The bolded is what earned the "3DS street pass" comment. I don't think customizable NPC companions are all that innovative, even if the feature ended up being fun. The combat is really what stood out to me.

 

[Codswallop_]

The world and towns were basic last-gen stuff, but I loved the pawn system and general D&D vibe of the enemies and NPC's. Nearly every time I left a stronghold for a basic quest I'd end up sidetracked into a way more epic adventure.

Downsides are the graphics were severely dated even at the time, and learning curve is pretty steep at first. It can be confusing to figure out where to go or what to do when playing it initially.

Very excited for a sequel.

 

[Rodolink]

I remember being blown away the first time it was shown on E3 (I was there my first and last E3) And still regret not playing it fully when it came out. Hopefully will give the time it deserves when I get a switch.

 

[Vawn]

This was a great game. It has a lot of room for improvement though which I was hoping to see in a proper sequel.

The game needed balancing issues. It starts off pretty difficult, but quickly reaches a point where it becomes trivial.

The pawn system was cool, but from a story point it felt dumb. It was like they weren't real people, but kind of were and they didn't much make sense story-wise. And they needed to just shut the hell up. They were like those toy dolls where you pull a string and they say one of eight preset phrases. Except the pawns pulled their own strings. Constantly.

 

[Ten_Fold]

Still don’t understand why they didn’t make a sequel itsuno makes some pretty damn good games.

 

[Touch fuzZy. get BizZay]

I can't speak from experience with DD but to make a case for another game I always wonder why no one copied the nemesis system from Shadow of Mordor...

 

[GermanZepp]

WOLFS HUNTS IN PACKS!!!!!

 

[mcz117chief]

It wasn't bad, it was just so so. I liked all the Berserk references though. Combat was ok, nothing special and the monster climbing was serviceable. Night time is really cool though and the pawn system works great too. If only it had combat more like metal gear rising or ninja gaiden it would be amazing. The world was really bland and it took forever to get around. Fast travel should have been introduced right away or they should have added horses.

 

[Lux R7]

the videogame of my heart!
i'm not even sure i want someone to copy it, i just want DD2.
However i love Capcom for the pc release, it gave this game new life and i don't think i will ever stop playing it.

 

[Clear]

The main issue facing DD was it came out at a point when Japanese games were out of fashion with the "tastemakers" in the enthusiast press, it was never given its fair due. Had it come out a generation earlier or later it would have been a major hit.

 

[sublimit]

Still don’t understand why they didn’t make a sequel itsuno makes some pretty damn good games.

The original DD was the most expensive project Capcom ever did but unfortunately as is usually the case with new IPs that aim to do new things its sales weren't that good.Eventually with all the ports and remasters the game became profitable but i guess Capcom were still reluctant to greenlight a sequel.
However the game over the years has gained much more positive word of mouth and critical acclaim from people who actually really played it enough in order to appreciate all the things it did right so i think some years ago something changed within Capcom regarding a potential sequel and now they are more willing to give it another chance. Itsuno also seems to be pointing that way because in almost every interview he keeps talking about DD and/or hinting on a potential sequel.

 

[lock2k]

When I had a store, there was always this customer who came and talked about "tracon's tocma". I don't know why the fuck he spoke like that, but it was some funny shit.

 

[Pejo]

The original DD was the most expensive project Capcom ever did but unfortunately as is usually the case with new IPs that aim to do new things its sales weren't that good.Eventually with all the ports and remasters the game became profitable but i guess Capcom were still reluctant to greenlight a sequel.
However the game over the years has gained much more positive word of mouth and critical acclaim from people who actually really played it enough in order to appreciate all the things it did right so i think some years ago something changed within Capcom regarding a potential sequel and now they are more willing to give it another chance. Itsuno also seems to be pointing that way because in almost every interview he keeps talking about DD and/or hinting on a potential sequel.

They're rolling in a nice surplus of MonHun money right now, the first game's been re-released on every major platform, Itsuno's doing interviews about it....

It's only a matter of time (hopefully).

 

[Nero_PR]

Still don’t understand why they didn’t make a sequel Itsuno makes some pretty damn good games.

Some wild rumors run saying that Devil May Cry 5 didn't get any DLC because Itsuno-san is working on Dragon's Dogma 2

 

[Dr. Claus]

Gameplay was weak. Combat was bad. The open world felt like corridors. No wonder no one copied the game.

You literally never played the game if you say something like this.

 

[Shantae]

Doesn't influential mean that it was copied? If no other game were influenced by/copied Dragon's Dogma...then it wasn't influential I'd think.

 

[GymWolf]

It was a good game, not more than that imho.

The pawn system and the giant magic attack were cool tho.

 

[jshackles]

Doesn't influential mean that it was copied? If no other game were influenced by/copied Dragon's Dogma...then it wasn't influential I'd think.

It influenced our hearts and minds though!

 

[Vicetrailia]

The combat was glorious.

I like how the job classes leveled up, just didn't like the min/max Job system As it applies to your permanent stats.

 

[Liljagare]

Yeah, this was a true gem of its generation, hope to see DD2 someday.

 

[Kamina]

Imagine if they made a successor, open world with a map the size of Skyrim+, fitting graphics but remain true to the gameplay. *drools*

My only problems really were the world size and abstract story.

 

[The_Mike]

You literally never played the game if you say something like this.

Also tried to play it on PS3 when it was a plus game. Tried again when I got it for free with humble monthly. I can't fucking stand the game.

And I'm a guy who loves RPGs.

 

[Kamina]

Also tried to play it on PS3 when it was a plus game. Tried again when I got it for free with humble monthly. I can't fucking stand the game.

And I'm a guy who loves RPGs.

Hvad fanden?

 

[KingdomHeartsFan]

I tried playing this game, I wasn't really a fan. The combat was alright, but the world and quests were boring.

 

[Dr. Claus]

Also tried to play it on PS3 when it was a plus game. Tried again when I got it for free with humble monthly. I can't fucking stand the game.

And I'm a guy who loves RPGs.

Then you must have royally fucked up on how to play the game if you think it was anything related to corridor/linear.

 

[Stefan.North]

If it's never coppied how is it INFLUENTAL (words used by writer of article)?

 

[Ceadeus]

Gameplay was weak. Combat was bad. The open world felt like corridors. No wonder no one copied the game.

It has to be a joke? Seriously you are kidding?

 

[TheShadowLord]

So what does that make Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor Nemesis System then? No game, as far as I am aware of, has copied the Nemesis System.

 

[ROMhack]

Also tried to play it on PS3 when it was a plus game. Tried again when I got it for free with humble monthly. I can't fucking stand the game.

And I'm a guy who loves RPGs.

Danske meme

 

[The_Mike]

Then you must have royally fucked up on how to play the game if you think it was anything related to corridor/linear.

So because my opinion is different I'm wrong, because taste of games is somehow a fact?

I really think it was linear compared to other games.

 

[Danny Dudekisser]

So, stated differently... "most influential game that wasn't influential"?

 

[Alexios]

It was cool at first but I didn't like the stats based combat after a while, it was all about spamming your best skills rather than playing organically. Maybe you could opt to not do that but then the bosses with insane health amounts would take too long to down or kill you first as you can't dodge it all. The more I played of it the less things I had to like. I'd say its best aspect isn't the combat given all that but its hand crafted world that's a joy to traverse and explore with carefully placed vistas, nooks and crannies to discover rather than just a random heightmap with the cities and points of interest thrown in. Although the rewards for exploration could have been better and you could be blocked by tough enemies the way combat was all about stats despite the guise of an action game (but that aspect is ok, plenty RPGs use such roadblocks and expect you to come back later).

 

[ethomaz]

It is really something else and that is why I hoped Deep Down to take inspiration.
Said that the game has a lot to improve too.

PS. lol at linear/corridor talk... just show how you have no ideia what the game is.

 

[gioGAF]

The pawn system is fantastic, it is one of the most fun elements and it is certainly something that hasn't been ripped off for some odd reason. I have spent more time fiddling with pawns than I have with any of the actual quest stuff. Bitterblack Isle serves as a gauntlet that can be run over and over to test pawns, improve their skills, tweak gear, etc.

The actual combat mechanics are also quite fun, they hold up to this day. I can run the same content over and over because fighting is actually fun. It has a fighting game element to it, like a Street Fighter, which makes most singular encounters unique.

 

[manfestival]

You literally never played the game if you say something like this.

I have played the game and share the exact same sentiments. I however recommend the game and did like it. Just thought it was more of a 7/10

I was super hype for it when they released it but didn't play it till much later

 

[sublimit]

For those of you who are veterans of the game and want to take your game knowledge further you should seriously check Nihil0.0 channel. Easily one of the most knowledgable DD player out there IMO. I have learned so much from him and he helped making me appreciate the game even more!
His Pawn videos for example are a must:

 

[Dr. Claus]

So because my opinion is different I'm wrong, because taste of games is somehow a fact?

I really think it was linear compared to other games.

You can think the game is bad all you want, but calling it linear is like calling FFXIII open world. It just is a blatant lie.

 

[DeepEnigma]

It's strange to harp on the pawn system. Yes, it allowed players to swap pawns and share items, but that's nothing more impressive than what we saw in 3DS Street Pass titles. The climbing and the open-ended combat are what set it apart, even influencing Monster Hunter.

Diablo 2 had pawn swapping and item carrying for them as well, albeit more limited I assume.

I need to give this one a go. It has been in my backlog for quite a while.

 

[TheWanderingOgre]

the videogame of my heart!
i'm not even sure i want someone to copy it, i just want DD2.
However i love Capcom for the pc release, it gave this game new life and i don't think i will ever stop playing it.

Preach it!

One of my all time favourites.

Its battle system remains unmatched in the context of a RPG.

It story is poorly implemented but surprisingly strong.

The Steam community around Dark Arisen is one of the best, most active and friendlier gaming communities I have come across in my 25+ years as a videogames lover too. The total opposite of the stories you hear regarding 'online gamers'.

We will be there for the sequel, Itsuno!

 

[DiscoJer]

Eh, I think The Sims is really the game no one copied. It's sold how many millions? (200 million, apparently, across all titles) Yet the only things even remotely like it were sleazy shovelware like Playboy the Mansion

 

[KàIRóS]

We all secretly know Itsuno is already working on DD2 though, there's no way Capcom is going to let DD die with 1 game.

 

[Jigsaah]

We all secretly know Itsuno is already working on DD2 though, there's no way Capcom is going to let DD die with 1 game.

Well geez...it's not a secret if go blabbing to everyone...

Gaaal!

 

[Gargus]

He is not wrong. If only Capcom had more faith in the game during development, it would have been even more epic. As it stands, it's still one of the best ARPG ever made in my opinion

I wish they had more faith in asuras wrath as well. I had a lot of fun playing that. I wish it had done better so I could have a sequel. I dont think they got behind it enough and advertise it. I'd even buy a remaster of it.