VGOTY 2011 #2 - Dragon's Dogma

After the open-world fantasy-fest of 2011, with Dark Souls and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim dominating a huge chunk of my time, there felt like a gaping hole in 2012 that other RPGs just didn't fill. That is, of course, until I picked up Dragon's Dogma because despite some "good but not great" critics reviews, it looked like it would be up my street. Well, not only was this game superb, but it turns out I was not the only person to think so - Dragon's Dogma went on to sell so many copies and be raved about by so many people that Capcom instantly green-lit a sequel, in fact a whole franchise based on this game, but with a bigger budget and larger internal focus from the company. Still, if large sprawling open world fantasy RPGs are your thing, then this "flawed" original should definitely not be overlooked. In fact, while I would never disagree they there is room for improvement, I would argue that the perceived "flaws" of this game is probably what endeared it to so many people in the first place!!

So, what do you do when a huge fire breathing dragon lands in your quiet seaside town, starts some shit, and then rips the still-beating heart from your chest? Why, become immortal of course!!.. and go kick that damned dragon's ass!!

The first thing that I really liked about Dragon's Dogma is that it doesn't hold your hand. At the start of the game, the map is blank, you haven't got a clue where anything is and your character doesn't magically know where to go to complete quests. This is realistic and forces you to actually, you know, talk to people and explore the map to discover things. Stuff like this instantly makes me enjoy a game, especially if this is backed up by a steep difficulty curve, which it is in Dragon's Dogma. However, the game cleverly gives you a little control over this with it's day/night cycle - basically, in the daylight you will find the usual array of fantastical creatures and enemies, all appropriately levelled based on location and visible some distance away; allowing you avoid them if necessary. Once the sun has gone down, and night draws in, the game world turns pitch black (a bit like how night actually is (i.e. not the blue-tinged romanticised Hollywood nighttime)) and chock-full of horrific creatures who's only ambition is to tear your face off. These more difficult nighttime encounters provide greater challenge and level-up your character quicker, as well as providing access to some of the game's random giant-creature battles.

Occasionally, and with greater frequency the further you progress, the game will spawn massive boss-like battles that feel AWESOME to struggle with and eventually overcome. A robust combat system backs this up, with lots of stat-building, armour-swapping and assignable hot-swappable special moves providing a deeply satisfying role-playing system. You also have the much maligned 'Pawns' that follow you around and obey your commands, although some of their use is also outside battle to provide quest markers if they've done the quest before. This also makes up the game's online component, as you're continually searching 'the Rift' to find other player's companions and aid from those pawns who have already completed quests or who have something that you party is currently lacking.

There is still so much I haven't talked about regarding this epic game, such as some of the side-quests and randomly generated material, or the **AMAZING** "final" battles (the dragons in this make Skyrim look like absolute bollocks!) leading into an end-game lasting another several hours on top of the main storyline!! Dragon's Dogma was just a superb game, which seemed to complete lose critics who overlooked everything that it did new and did well, instead choosing to compare it to "safer" western fantasy epics, which while robust and excellent in their own way, were no where near as refreshing to play as this game. Totally deserving of a place as one of the best games in 2012, so much so that an extended mini-sequel is coming before Dragon's Dogma 2 hits at some point, I can't wait!!