• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Dragon's Dogma Demo Impressions

xxczx

Member
As with others, I wasn't interested at all until I played the demo and wow, so awesome. Pre-ordered from Amazon, now to wait like a month :(
Character creation is awesome but I named my character 'Myles' and in the pre-set names there was only 'Miles' D:
 

Derrick01

Banned
I hope the full game explains the combat system better cause I felt like I was just button mashing and hoping for the best.

At the very least you'll at least have more down time in the full game to learn stuff at your own pace. This game just throws you in a field of goblins and a griffon and says "have fun douchebag!!". I had to fumble around with the controls and the bow and arrow that I just randomly had.
 
As much as I was looking forward to this, the demo didn't excite. I do have some questions though.

Is there a lock on button or am I stuck dealing with having to rotate a camera to target a foe? Also, the lack of a universal dodge and block is awkward.. am I missing something or is it all relative to the equipment and type of fighter you are?
 

charsace

Member
If this game's structure is similar to Bethseda's rpg's outside of battles then I would be ecstatic. Maybe this will force Bethseda to take more risks with their combat system. I like how how agile and nimble the character feels.
 

ironcreed

Banned
As much as I was looking forward to this, the demo didn't excite. I do have some questions though.

Is there a lock on button or am I stuck dealing with having to rotate a camera to target a foe? Also, the lack of a universal dodge and block is awkward.. am I missing something or is it all relative to the equipment and type of fighter you are?

Magic Archer has a lock on for one of the magic arrow abilities, but that is it. In addition, only striders, rangers, magic archers and assassins can roll. It is all about having a balanced out party, where you and your pawns compliment each other. You will need to prepare and plan your party around different scenarios in order to be most effective against certain foes. All part of the fun.
 
Replaying the demo, the first mission, I found 4 hidden healing items, I hope dungeons in the game are full of hidden items, specially the ones that make you climb and jump into places of difficult access.
 

Anteater

Member
At the very least you'll at least have more down time in the full game to learn stuff at your own pace. This game just throws you in a field of goblins and a griffon and says "have fun douchebag!!". I had to fumble around with the controls and the bow and arrow that I just randomly had.

They also put in a tank in the prologue that does an awesome job tanking most of the chimera's attacks, which makes the player absolutely useless, not to mention you could call a mage and a strider that also do a better job doing damage than the player.
 

ironcreed

Banned
They also put in a tank in the prologue that does an awesome job tanking most of the chimera's attacks, which makes the player absolutely useless, not to mention you could call a mage and a strider that also do a better job doing damage than the player.

As over-leveled as they made you for that fight, I did not feel useless. If anything, it is different each time I play it. Sometimes the pawns will do most of the damage, other times they get pummeled and I have to save the day for the most part. Overall, it feels like a team fighting it. Still, it is just a prologue fight and tutorial of sorts. The fact that it is easy is a given.

We have seen battles against the likes of the Drake, which even the developers of the game had to retreat from during live streams. The whole game is not going to be like the Chimera fight in the prologue or the low level Griffin. Don't know why people are assuming the whole game will be easy based off the demo with a pre-leveled character and low level enemies.
 

Anteater

Member
As over-leveled as they made you for that fight, I did not feel useless. If anything, it is different each time I play it. Sometimes the pawns will do most of the damage, other times they get pummeled and I have to save the day for the most part. Overall, it feels like a team fighting it. Still, it is just a prologue fight and tutorial of sorts. The fact that it is easy is a given.

We have seen battles against the likes of the Drake, which even the developers of the game had to retreat from during live streams. The whole game is not going to be like the Chimera fight in the prologue or the low level Griffin. Don't know why people are assuming the whole game will be easy based off the demo with a pre-leveled character and low level enemies.

Yeah you could make yourself useful and speed up the fight, but the set up of the prologue pretty much allows the player to be lazy, so people would just mash away without having to carry his duty, it's why people get the feeling they're not really doing much, because they're not and the pawns are killing and tanking stuff for them, they don't even need to access the menu to eat herbs if they don't want to, because there's a healer.

I don't really care about the difficulty of the demo though, just saying that the demo is a pretty terrible demonstration because majority don't really enjoy the way it's set up and it's quite short, I didn't even know some of the simple mechanics with the shield until I toss Salde down the cliff and get to actually block things myself. (maybe they say it in the tutorial pop ups but I turned them off, lol).
 

ironcreed

Banned
I don't really care about the difficulty of the demo though, just saying that the demo is a pretty terrible demonstration because majority don't really enjoy the way it's set up and it's quite short, I didn't even know some of the simple mechanics with the shield until I toss Salde down the cliff and get to actually block things myself. (maybe they say it in the tutorial pop ups but I turned them off, lol).

There are pop ups that tell you how to block, etc. Anyway, I do agree that they should have taken the Amalur approach, let you create a character and just run around the world for about 30 minutes. It would have painted a much better picture of what you are in for once you start, and perhaps would have given the player a chance to get stomped by some foes out of their level range.

That said, most hands-on previews have said that it is a game that really starts to shine once you are hours into it. Games this big, that require so much time are just hard to demo period. I think the idea behind this one is just to give a taste and let you create a character, but in no way will do the full game justice. As far as that goes, it served it's purpose for me and I know it will be what I wanted. But yeah, I think the demo ultimately short changes what it is actually going to be like.
 

Anteater

Member
There are pop ups that tell you how to block, etc. Anyway, I do agree that they should have taken the Amalur approach, let you create a character and just run around the world for about 30 minutes. It would have painted a much better picture of what you are in for once you start, and perhaps would have given the player a chance to get stomped by some foes out of their level range.

Doesn't really tell you much about stamina and stuff though =P

Trying the demo again, I think pairing with just a strider isn't that useful on Fighter (outside of flying enemies), the best thing they could do is distracting the Chimera by climbing it... she's not doing much damage lol
 

Mognet

Member
Another thing which I found out when messing around on the countryside quest is after rolling in water; your character's clothes and hair get wet.

I love the small things like this in games!
 

Anteater

Member
Another thing which I found out when messing around on the countryside quest is after rolling in water; your character's clothes and hair get wet.

I love the small things like this in games!

Yeah, I noticed that after playing bull fighting with the Chimera and I see my cape soaked like a badass. I think someone posted that if you fall in the water your lantern will turn off too.
 

Dresden

Member
God, such attention to detail.

I love magic and I love bows and I love them for putting in a class that uses both. Basically Arcane Archer 2.0 (or Harper Scout even).
 

Mognet

Member
God, such attention to detail.

I love magic and I love bows and I love them for putting in a class that uses both. Basically Arcane Archer 2.0 (or Harper Scout even).

Yeah I like the combination of magic and melee too. Dragon Age: Origins got me loving them after using 'Arcane Warrior' a lot.
 
Sounds like just bad PR and marketing to me :p

They didn't really show off anything about the RPG aspect of the game until later last year or the beginning of this, but the development team didn't seem afraid to admit they wanted to make an RPG that was inspired by oblivion and dragon age in multiple interviews.

I think the concern is they want people associating it more as an action adventure in a large open world as opposed to a full blown RPG like Skyrim.
 

doomquake

Member
killed the griffon again (4th time). Its great seeing your allies to try their hardest to hurt it. They climb ontop of it and it takes off with them. Great. It works well I think, since when you do the same thing, without the cinematic camera, you don't get the same impact when your camera is right up close to you hanging on to the side of the beast. But seeing someone else fly a distance and then tumble off is great.

I hope there is lots of exploration and crafting...and I hate crafting.

I am a bit bummed that the deferred lighting has to have such heavy banding. I tried the (lame) walking dead demo, and it seemed to have the same effect when you are in the house with light beams shining it. The light cast a dynamic shadow and has rays casting through the room...but they are like green, white, pink, gray bands that look like vomit.

In any case it is cool. Oh also extremely sad that when you set yourself on fire, you don't cast any light :(.
 
Finally solo'd the chimera after about the fourth time. Such fun attack patterns and saw an animation that was amazing.

I also managed to literally grab on the head of the snake and stab it it looked nuts!
 

Derrick01

Banned
I thought it was just ok at first, but I can see this being game of the year.

If they can nail the challenge even with the 3 pawns then I can see it happening. The core of the game seems to be there from what we've seen, I'm just worried about it becoming too easy after doing some grinding.

edit: And by "see it happening" I mean it will be a fan favorite. It has 0 chance of it being the media's goty. It's a japanese-western rpg and the media hates everything japan and hates everything wrpg unless it's bioware or bethesda.
 
Well, I really wish the demo wasn't so combat-focused.

I know it's the game's bread and butter, but at least a hint at some of the actual RPG elements would have been nice.

The combat seems well and good enough, but it had that "TOOMUCHSHITISGOINGONATONCE" kind of thing. I dunno.
 

Jeels

Member
I have a question about the full game, can I make all four of my pawns my own customization or do the other two have to be hired ones?
 
Played the demo again and I'm still really torn... This game could turn out to be amazing or total garbage.

And if you have to use letterbox, at least make sure your game is not so damn blurry...
 

Y2Kev

TLG Fan Caretaker Est. 2009
I played both versions.

I feel like the PS3 one is actually a little sharper, but has more pop-in. Is there a difference in AA implementations? Is it FXAA on both? The 360 had a little more blur to it...it could be that the PS3 one is using lower quality (or none?) motion blur. I liked the sharpness. The framerate is definitely worse. And it didn't really seem consistent. 360 one tears fairly frequently if you have an eye for it.

Uhhhhh so I like the letterboxing. I MUCH prefer that to upscaling the 300p image or whatever to full res. Love my old 720p for these crappy consoles!
 
Finally got around to downloading the PS3 and 360 demos to determine which version I'd pre-order. Glad I did, because I was leaning towards PS3 before playing but now will definitely go with 360. The only tearing I see is during the intro to each mission (as the camera swings in). Never see it during gameplay, but the biggest difference is that the PS3 version runs at a very noticeably lower framerate. I'll gladly take some tearing in exchange for a solid, high framerate. The framerate wasn't going up and down on the PS3, but it was consistently lower.

As for the demo itself, it's really weak. Based on the demo alone, I'd have no interest in the game. But I've watched about 3 hours of footage on youtube and I know I want the game. I wish the camera was more adjustable and further from my character, but I can live with it. After playing KOA Reckoning and being disappointed at how stupidly easy it got on the hardest difficulty setting, I hope Dragon's Dogma has good difficulty balancing. I love the feel of the bow, so that will definitely be my first class.
 

charsace

Member
If they can nail the challenge even with the 3 pawns then I can see it happening. The core of the game seems to be there from what we've seen, I'm just worried about it becoming too easy after doing some grinding.

edit: And by "see it happening" I mean it will be a fan favorite. It has 0 chance of it being the media's goty. It's a japanese-western rpg and the media hates everything japan and hates everything wrpg unless it's bioware or bethesda.

I would imagine that the full game won't be nearly as easy. The combat in this game is what I've always wanted from an RPG the battles feel great and the boss fights have a real epic feel that is lacking in games like skyrim and final fantasy. Not saying those games are fun, but if this is really an RPG then the bar for hand to hand combat in the genre has been raised. The combat system in Dragon's Dogma is what RPG's have been lacking. Its not as complicated as something like DMC or NG, but I like the variety and all the ways that players have to attack enemies. I also like the attention to detail.
 
I loved the game from the first time I tried the demo. Subsequent tries on 360 and PS3 have made it even more apparent that this game is going to be awesome for me.

Just having trouble deciding if I'll get it on 360 and PS3.
 
Is there any way to see what the pawns are buffing us with in the demo? When I throw my pawns off a cliff in the first encounter and I fight the boss alone, he constantly puts me to sleep. But with pawns I never get put to sleep (by the boss or the harpies). I assume the mage is blocking whatever spell is causing the sleep.
 

cyborg009

Banned
I've found seven hidden items total.

I found 3 one of them I found while the harpy was pulling me up in the air

here is my main character:

md2u1.jpg
qz1UQ.jpg
 

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
Is there any way to see what the pawns are buffing us with in the demo? When I throw my pawns off a cliff in the first encounter and I fight the boss alone, he constantly puts me to sleep. But with pawns I never get put to sleep (by the boss or the harpies). I assume the mage is blocking whatever spell is causing the sleep.

I think the only buff they do in the demo is the flame sword. The goathead has an attack that makes a circle appear around the chimera, and if you stay there it puts you to sleep. The pawns usually beat the shit out of the thing and make it collapse so it never really gets to do it, or they warn that it's casting a spell.
 

Akai

Member
Is there any way to see what the pawns are buffing us with in the demo? When I throw my pawns off a cliff in the first encounter and I fight the boss alone, he constantly puts me to sleep. But with pawns I never get put to sleep (by the boss or the harpies). I assume the mage is blocking whatever spell is causing the sleep.

I believe you can manually wake up pawns and they can do the same for you. Not sure about an actually "awakening" spell that was in play...
 
Top Bottom