Capcom’s
latest title is a unique take on a party based RPG. Instead of taking
the Japanese route, which is roughly just to evolve upon the Dragon Quest model, Capcom made it into a very action heavy game that seems to be more inspired by Dungeons and Dragons,
or at least visually. Now does this very brief demo make the game look
good or bad? It seems to be damn good, now listen to me gush about it.
Dragon’s Dogma Demo Impressions
Release Date: 22/5/12
Platform: Xbox 360(Played), Playstation 3
The
game does little to interest you storywise, and instead gives you some
summoned mages, warriors and rogues and tells you to go out and fight
goblins. The two classes provided were a warrior who had three special
moves and two base attacks, and a rogue that had knives and a bow. The
combat itself feels like it could hold up a decent action game, and
provides a lot more diversity than something like Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.
But what instantly makes the game stand out is the ability to grab
enemies. you can grab a smaller foe and have your allies smash its head
in more easily, which creates this wondrous sense of power, since the
small guys just leap around while you enter a cluster and take them out.
This could very easily end up making them useless, but you only
encounter about 4 groups throughout the demo, and ever after multiple
playthroughs, I am not sure. Although, if you took most single player
RPGs and added three other characters, I suppose that goblins would be
as big of a threat as a disgruntled rabbit.
But
after you take out some red goblins and greyish harpies through a dark
castle and a field, you encounter a Chimera of a Lion, Goat, and Snake
as the first boss battle. You need to climb onto its back and take out
the snake tail and goat hide armour it has, so you get get to the face
of the lion, which you need to directly hit to hurt him. Now, this is a
welcome change of pace, since many games you can slash a creature’s
tail and somehow kill it. In Dragon’s Dogma,
you don’t slash the Dragon’s face, you get on it and weigh down its
wings. Now, the standard non climbing combat is still fun, but by
taking a great aspect from Shadow of the Colossus,
this game’s combat excels to something exceptional. And top it off
with a bunch of shouting party members that are voiced by a total of 12
guys, and you have something that could only be made more fun by both a
more distant camera and four player Co-op. Although, the main game
certainly has the same amount of shouting as one would experience while
playing it with friends.
But
other than fun gameplay this game boasts some not very interesting
visuals. They are not bad, they just seem a little dried out, there are
thankfully fields, but I get worried whenever a game reminds me of Dark
Souls’ dreary visuals. I might just be getting tired of a fantasy
setting due to an overload of long fantasy games the past few months,
but the visuals are not what sells me. But on the split side, this game
has one of the best character creators that I have ever seen. Instead
of having a bunch of sliders for facial structure, Dragon's Dogma
offers a ton of presets for everything, arms, legs, base torso, etc.
And it is far easier to use than balancing a nasal bridge to prevent it
from looking like the character was hit in the face with a brick. I
know that this can be seen as a random thing to talk about, but I spent
45 minutes just fiddling with everything, and I normally cannot even
stay on a character creator for more than 10. Although, the ability to
design your mainstay companion added significantly to the creation time.
I just want to give praise to any game that lets you play as an
overweight woman with minimal breasts and a high pitch voice. I really
have no more to say, other than the fact that the tutorial given in not
very well done, and it took a bit to ease into the controls, which still
feel a bit off after multiple playthroughs. Yet, I doubt that I will
get this game anytime soon, because I really want to get that Berserk
armor that is currently a Japan exclusive.
That, and there is that backlog that I have, better finish up that Deadly Premonition boss rush and get onto Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom,
neither of which you’ll see until June, when I’ll start posting more
regularly, but on less of a schedule. Now I’m off to play some 999,
which will be a very “interesting” review for me to write. I hope this
will tide all of 0 people over after my painfully simple Starfox 64 3D review.
