Dragon's Dogma II (2024)

Hoo-boy, the Unmoored World is not a friendly place. Just the absolute lack of water alone is deeply depressing. And the red mist is a serious impedance to visibility, plunging you into a crimson twilight where even your lantern does little to help. Trash mobs have been promoted to a pain in the ass and say hello to Dullhans and Litches around every corner. Just fought my first “boss” at one of the red pillars and they are also a significant upgrade from the Drakes, Gryphons and Chimeras of the regular world, in very welcome ways. If you think a Drake’s ability to cast Meteoron is annoying, get ready for this crystal dragon that can summon a tempest that blankets an entire arena in both AoE and targeted elemental damage. I had to call my pawn to me and huddle in a corner while renewing active healing to compensate for stray lighting strikes until the storm was over and we could resume attacking. I love a boss that makes you dance!

I did enjoy that the Dragon fight at the end of the main campaign prior to the Unmoored World was basically a reprisal of the fight at the end of Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen. That, coupled with the fact that the game’s title screen displays Dragon’s Dogma and doesn’t change to Dragon’s Dogma II until you defeat that boss and chose to enter the Unmoored World, feels like a bit of self reflection from the devs on the nature of this game as both remake and sequel.

I’m sad the game is drawing to a close but I did save a few vocations for new game+, chiefly the Warfarer that allows you to combine skills and gear from all vocations into a hybrid class. I’m looking forward to creating a hybrid melee and ranged build that gives me maximum versatility. I might try for a warfarer solo run if all goes well.

Starting to run out of reasons not to trigger the end game, but I’m still having fun bumming around, hunting drakes and changing vocation on a whim. Part of me wants to leave some vocation levelling for new game+, but part of me can’t help myself.

The amazing thing is I’m simply not tiring of this game and it’s all I want to do when I’m gaming. It’s also always on the back of my mind when I’m not playing it, as anything that I end up really loving tends to be.

I’m also considering revisiting the first game because, even though I really enjoyed it, I didn’t really explore it to the degree I am with the sequel.

I don’t remember who asked me if Dragon’s Dogma II is my BG3 of 2024. I don’t think it’s possible to compare the two, because the two are essentially the furthest from each other in what they do as is possible. Yet I can’t deny that they are both mechanically rich and provide some of the most satisfying experiences I’ve ever had in games of this size. And while I won’t say that Dragon’s Dogma II holds the same place in my heart, it’s carved out its own little place and I’m just about as addicted to this as I was BG3 last year.

I’m procrastinating and avoiding the final quest line because I’m addicted to the world of the game and I’m still exploring the map. It’s not a huge map as far as open worlds go, but I love all its tucked away areas and nooks and crannies. I just popped the Tourist achievement for finding 50 caves and yet I’m still finding more. And I’m still walking everywhere. Sure, I hope on some ox carts now and then, but I’ve been pretty stingy with the ferrystones. And that’s despite the fact that I’ve got portcrystals and ferrystones coming out my pores (contrary to what every angry YouTuber would have you believe). I love hiking my ass around the map because I find something new every time (like that drake I mentioned in my last update). New caves. New hills. New secrets. New pawns. New everything, everywhere I go.

I also would be remiss if I don’t mention that this has to be the best English VO I’ve ever encountered in a JRPG. Dark Arisen was decent but this is great. Other JRPG studios (Squenix, I’m looking at you) take note.

I love accidentally stumbling upon a drake tucked away in an area I previously overlooked. The problem is remember where those locations are when I want to go drake hunting 😂

The first time I encountered a drake it scared the living hell out of me. Not out of fear of getting my ass handed to me, but because the whole screen pulsates as their heart resonates with your presence and they address you directly. Although drakes took me by surprise in Dark Arisen the interaction wasn’t quite as affecting and impactful. Now I look forward to that moment when they acknowledge my presence and we resonate in unison.

Every time I max out a vocation in Dragons Dogma II I switch to my next vocation on my way to Mystic Spearhand, and I restart the “numbers go up” process. Now I’m not a person who enjoys levelling up for the sake of seeing numbers go up (otherwise I’d like games like Vampire Survivor and Nobody Saves the World where that seems to be the core pleasure), but I do enjoy the experience of feeling a class or vocation grow in abilities.

Experiencing the curve from very few abilities to many, the growth that comes with both expanding abilities and my expanding skill is quite satisfying. Getting to do it multiple times in one game is probably why I love job systems. I enjoy suddenly starting from the bottom again, and having to relearn all my button rotations, best skills, etc.. But it also comes with a momentary loss of power and expertise, wherein I’m stuck back at the bottom facing enemies with a completely foreign skill set.

I’m currently a level six Magick Archer, but I ran into a drake at level two. My abilities were too immature to deal with a drake and I was struggling. I fled and then respeced as a level nine Thief (just to rid myself of the Drake who was blocking a critical path). Now that I’m closing on higher levels, I can definitely defeat a drake, but it was fun to feel weak again for a moment.

But I’m reaching the end of my vocation journey as I approach the final class, Mystic Spearhand because I plan to stick with that. I might spec into the last three remaining classes that I have yet to play, but probably not until closer to the end (or in the post game, whatever form that takes).

I woke up in the middle of the night last night because it dawned on me that I fought a dragon that was oozing bile and that's one of the ways to contract Dragonsplague. And now I'm constantly worried I need to monitor my pawns. Or I could just kill them all 😈

And the more I think about it the more I feel like Capcom is (unintentionally?) forcing us to think about how we police illness, and how fear forces us to react in ways that are dehumanizing (e.g. how HIV/AIDS was and is framed in the public consciousness and led to the demonization of marginalized groups). I don't know if Capcom put that much thought into it, but I do think it's an interesting idea to contend with when we think about how Dragonsplauge looms over the player and how we treat the pawns as a result, who themselves are the real victims.

Anyway, Capcom is nerfing Dragonsplague, and I'm bummed.