As much as everyone loves it when a major publisher like Capcom revisits a long-dormant IP like Dragon’s Dogma, there’s always a few concerns that come with that. The more time that passes between installments, the more design conventions have the chance to change and the more likely it is that fans won’t get an experience that’s true to the original they love.
In Dragon’s Dogma’s case, it’s been ten years since the original first released. Just about everything about the RPG genre has changed dramatically in that time, so it would be only natural to fear/expect the developers to try something different with it. That said, this doesn’t appear to be the case. In fact, if the gameplay we tried at TGS 2023 is any indication, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is actually going to be a sequel that stays true to the original.
Vocations, open world exploration, pawns, grabbing, throwing and climbing enemies are all back, and they all have the the feel of being more refined versions of what players experienced in the first Dragon’s Dogma. Actually, most noticeable differences for returning players will likely be the pawns and the vocations system. Neither are dramatically different, but there are changes all the same. For the pawns, it’s mostly that they’re more vocal than before. It was actually difficult to distinguish them from other NPCs at the demo’s outset.
As for the vocations system, the major change is that all the jobs have been overhauled to be more distinct from one another. Returning fans aren’t going to be seeing mixed jobs like the Strider in Dragon’s Dogma 2. If they want to have a bow, they need to use the Archer job class. If they want to dual-wield daggers, then their only option is to changeover to the Thief job. In other words, there’s more reason to use each job this time around.
It’s looking like coming into the game as a new player won’t be without be completely painless; getting used to how everything works does require time and experimentation on the part of the player, but it doesn’t take a ton of either. It’s actually enough to just choose a vocation that fits one’s preferred playstyle best and then just take the first few combat encounters as they come. It seems like enemies in the opening areas won’t be too difficult to deal with, and there will likely be plenty of opportunities to get used to features like grabbing and throwing enemies.
Combat itself isn’t actually all that complicated of an affair. Each vocation has its move set tied to the face buttons, with class specific actions like manual aiming with the archer tied to L1 (or LB for Xbox). Additional abilities can be executed through a combination of a should button + a face button. It’s all easy to learn and doesn’t look like it’ll get overly complicated as the game wears on.
If one does want to get fancy, though, they can actually just sit back and watch what their CPU-controlled pawns go to work. The pawns in the demo were all smart and fought surprisingly aggressively. I actually learned grabbing and throwing by watching one of them pick up a dude, throw him down a hill and then proceed to do a jumping strike on him while he was still recovering. It was impressive to watch, and naturally I tried it myself the first chance I got. Not only did it work, but it felt like a natural combo and was thrilling too.
Going back to pawn intelligence, they take good care to manage enemies and apply buffs/heals when necessary. For smaller encounters, players may actually have to hurry up and hit something if they want to participate in the fight at all, so players likely won’t have to worry about directing their pawns most of the time. The option is there, though, and giving them basic directions is easily done via the d-pad.
Other aspects worth noting about Dragon’s Dogma 2 is that there’s no fast travel system. If players are going to get somewhere, they’ll either have to hoof it on foot or catch an ox cart to their destination. It might sound tedious, but it actually does a lot to help maintain the “ye olde” fantasy world feel. Also, there’s no golden trail or persistent, Skyrim-style compass to point one towards their objective.
Instead, one of the pawns in the party will volunteer to lead the way. Just follow them, take in the nicely-rendered scenery and you’ll get there before long. It does seem old school, but then it feels like that’s kind of the point with Dragon’s Dogma 2: it’s more of what fans liked about the original. In other words, it’s a proper sequel.
