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Dragon's Dogma Demo Impressions

Skilletor

Member
I hate bad frame rates but it ran smooth for me. I don't know how some are getting bad frame rates. My mage was casting a lot too. I did notice a slight drop but that was walking around at the start of the prologue. It only lasted a second though. I'll see if it drops there again in a few.

me either. Framerates seemed comparable to me, but 360 version has tearing.

Might have to play it again now that I've played the 360 version. maybe I'll be able to tell then.
 
Questions for those who have been following this game:

- Does this have equipment?
- Can I choose a class? Was the demo just very restrictive?
- Is there any form of online? I noticed some options, but I feel like this game will just have some form of consistent online, like Fable 2's orbs.

- Yes
- In the full game you will be able to choose a class/vocation, but in the demo it's restricted
- Sort of, it's just an online mode where you trade Pawns with other players or something like that (no PvP or co-op)
 

Strife91

Member
- I really don't like those black bars. The image quality is pretty bad.

- So far I'm pretty put off by the controls. It feels like they packed to many actions into too few buttons although they are already using every button.

- I don't feel like I have any control over the battles. My party is just running around throwing random attacks.

- This game would have been better with multiplayer.


It feels like there's a lot of lost potential for this game. I shouldn't be looking forward to a sequel before the original is released, like I am now. I will probably buy this game anyway, but it won't be day one.

I believe this game could be a nice fit for the Wii U. If you had multiplayer you could use the screen for inventory and equipment without having to pause the game. Or if you're playing singleplayer you could use the screen to command your pawns. Like having them perform certain abilities.
 

Skilletor

Member
- I really don't like those black bars. The image quality is pretty bad.

- So far I'm pretty put off by the controls. It feels like they packed to many actions into too few buttons although they are already using every button.

- I don't feel like I have any control over the battles. My party is just running around throwing random attacks.

- This game would have been better with multiplayer.


It feels like there's a lot of lost potential for this game. I shouldn't be looking forward to a sequel before the original is released, like I am now. I will probably buy this game anyway, but it won't be day one.

I believe this game could be a nice fit for the Wii U. If you had multiplayer you could use the screen for inventory and equipment without having to pause the game. Or if you're playing singleplayer you could use the screen to command your pawns. Like having them perform certain abilities.


Play the dungeon scenario without pawns. It's much better.
 

Ryuuga

Banned
I know difficulty was brought up earlier and addressed but I honestly feel the main issue I have with this game (as per the demo) is that I don't feel any inherit danger from any encounter regardless of the scale of the fight. There are just so many opportunities to best a foe in a fight and while strategic planning may happen before a fight in the full version, that was nowhere to be seen in the demo. A complete contrast comparison to Dark Souls' sense of danger lurking around every corner especially since the game drives the point home that you're alone in this struggle (sans the co-op summons). I still feel this game would lend itself better to having a multiplayer mode above a finely-crafted singleplayer experience because of all the interaction you have with other NPCs during your quests.
 
Play the dungeon scenario without pawns. It's much better.
This. Soloing the chimera is so much more fulfilling, it's ridiculous. I'll be playing the full game with just one pawn. A mage type build to compliment my melee fighter.

Honestly, i'd have no complaints about the game if it wasnt for those sidebars.
To be honest, I didn't even notice them until GAF pointed it out, and even after seeing them, I no longer notice them.
 

UrbanRats

Member
Yeah the problem i had with the demo is the general confusion.
I turned off most of the UI and that helped, but still, especially with the strider, there's a lot of shit on screen, all fast paced and in general it's very chaotic.
Didn't feel very satisfying to me.

Maybe that's why i liked Dark Souls so much, because it's the opposite approach (slow paced and more methodical) BUT, i think playing through the whole game could have a very different appeal (when you're controlling your own character from start to finish, instead of being thrown into the heat of battle with no context).
 

raven777

Member
It might be unfair to judge the game based on the demo, but there were lots of things I didn't like in the demo.


- the character customization was poor. Wish I had more choices for customization.
-The visual was not as good as the screenshots or videos
-The hit impact was very very weak. When I get some sort of enchant(sword glowing) it felt little better, but nowhere near what I expected.
-The camera was hard to control. Often times its hard to know what the hell I am doing.


well, after few rounds I found out u can turn off the killcam thing which is good

The game has some good elements and looks promising, but the demo just didn't feel really good to be honest.
 

Teknoman

Member
This. Soloing the chimera is so much more fulfilling, it's ridiculous. I'll be playing the full game with just one pawn. A mage type build to compliment my melee fighter.


To be honest, I didn't even notice them until GAF pointed it out, and even after seeing them, I no longer notice them.

Its starting to wear off, but i'd just like an official reason why they decided to go this route.
 

Osaka15

Banned
meh. That was a close call. Thanks Capcom for giving me a demo lol. I expect the full game to be better, but the demo convince me this game is not worth full retail price. Which is sad as the videos looks so promising.
 
Didn't have to travel today after all. I played the demo and it's alright (not a lot of meat), but the combat is very nice.

Here are my chars Sevothtarte (main) and Sabina (pawn). Can't really make black chars which annoyed me. Camera and hdtv sucks, sorry. I like how it's possible to make 1 character have 2 eye colors.
 

Gbraga

Member
Really liked it but the framerate is complete garbage (played the PS3 demo).

I hope the 360 version is better on that front
 

Voidguts

Member
sorry for beating a dead horse, but yeah.. the ps3 framerate was awful. the demo got me interested in the game, though - despite the no multiplayer thing previously being a deal breaker. I'll probably wait for the PC version to release.
 

Derrick01

Banned
I played the ps3 demo twice and didn't notice awful framerate so I don't know what you guys are talking about. Maybe it's because I've played so much Dark Souls lately so DD seems like an improvement to me.

edit: Ouch yeah I'll take framerate dips over screen tearing that gives me headaches. That was rough.
 

Skilletor

Member
I played the ps3 demo twice and didn't notice awful framerate so I don't know what you guys are talking about. Maybe it's because I've played so much Dark Souls lately so DD seems like an improvement to me.

edit: Ouch yeah I'll take framerate dips over screen tearing that gives me headaches. That was rough.

I've said it before, but I really didn't notice the framerate going to shit in the ps3 version. I'll be interested in a DF comparison.

I'm definitely getting the ps3 version as i found the ps3 version great, but screen tearing gets on my nerves.
 

ReaperXL7

Member
I've said it before, but I really didn't notice the framerate going to shit in the ps3 version. I'll be interested in a DF comparison.

I'm definitely getting the ps3 version as i found the ps3 version great, but screen tearing gets on my nerves.

yeah, I have not really noticed any major framerate issues on the PS3 version either. I'm not sure why some seem to be getting it worse than others, maybe there is an issue between the japanese demo, vs the US version? Though I don't know why that would be the case.
 

Eppy Thatcher

God's had his chance.
It's really not that far fetched, its not like Dragons Dogma would be the first game with invisible walls barring you from all that scenery that "looks" like you can explore, but can't. Also, there is now skill based content in the demo, you can't mess with your class at all, you can't play as the mage for instance, you cannot pick your abilities or skills at all, and the first quest against the Chimera is very linear.

Alot of people play demos of games with no prior knowledge of the games exsistance. Kingdoms of Amalur is a perfect example of a recent game that no one bother to care about until the demo released. Then the flood gates opened and the game was everywhere, the demo thread on Gaf alone blew up. Yet many of the people in that thread stated that they had no prior knowledge or interest in the game.

I've said it before, and Derrick01 seems to agree that this demo should have been handled the same way the Reckoning demo was. Let players create their character, play through the tutorial quest, and then give them an hour or so of unrestricted playtime to do whatever they want. Mess with the Class system, explore the towns, talk to NPCs, go dungeon crawling, get a real feel for the combat other thank just fighting a few peons on the way to the big boss beast.

This demo funnels you through a cave in on quest scenario, and the second they pit you against a griffon within 5 minutes, giving you nothing else to do. They don't even have a trailer at the end showing and of the depth available in the full release. It just comes off that with the amount of rescourses Capcom has supposedly sunk into this game, they would have thought this demo out abit more carefully and made it meaningful. The demo sold me, but I already knew what the game was, this feels like the D&D game i've wanted all this gen, I just think the demo will leave some with a bad taste in their mouth. Hope i'm wrong though.


...excellent points. It could easily be my hype meter talking. I've read up and been so excited about - exactly as you say - a D&D feeling ACTION game this gen ... i'm following every beat day to day till release. Someone completely unaffected by media for the game or small previews so far coming into the demo could... for sure... see it as a seriously lacking game. And yet... pawns spawn as mages... the world around feels larger than the instance you partake in and ... i dunno. I understand i suppose... i just don't want to.
 

Emitan

Member
I was playing the Japanese demo. I can't download the demo on 360. There's a slash image for DD on the demos section of the marketplace, but no place to download the demo.
 

Pingoreous

Member
Yeah i am not bother by the framerate on PS3. It runs fine here too. BTW one of the PAWNS is voiced by the lady who does Major KUSANAGI from GHOST IN THE SHELL. I found that cool.
 

Gbraga

Member
I played the ps3 demo twice and didn't notice awful framerate so I don't know what you guys are talking about. Maybe it's because I've played so much Dark Souls lately so DD seems like an improvement to me.

edit: Ouch yeah I'll take framerate dips over screen tearing that gives me headaches. That was rough.

Are you guys playing with the lantern off? On my second playthrough I didn't turned the lamp on and the framerate is much, much better.

Could be just a coincidence and the framerate issues are a bug of the demo, so if you restart it the framerate is much better. Who knows...
 

Anteater

Member
The left female looks amazing. How did u make it?

Its really hard to make even a decent looking female at the moment for me..

I think the basic template I chose was:

Face shape - 28
Eyes - 13 (eyes 1 above medium, other medium)
Eyebrows - 37
Nose - 13 (Vertical position 1 above medium, Size Medium)
Mouth - 20 (Vertical position highest)

Could probably change a few things here and there to your liking

Are you guys playing with the lantern off? On my second playthrough I didn't turned the lamp on and the framerate is much, much better.

Could be just a coincidence and the framerate issues are a bug of the demo, so if you restart it the framerate is much better. Who knows...

Yep Prologue runs better with Lantern off, the demo is old though, but I don't know the final version is any better.
 
So just played it (ps3) and I kinda really don't like it.

Also, there are no real framerate drops except for the dragon. That's because it never drops from 24-26 or whatever the hell its actually locked at.

Its definitely locked at a lower framerate than 30 on ps3.
 

AgentP

Thinks mods influence posters politics. Promoted to QAnon Editor.
So just played it (ps3) and I kinda really don't like it.

Also, there are no real framerate drops except for the dragon. That's because it never drops from 24-26 or whatever the hell its actually locked at.

Its definitely locked at a lower framerate than 30 on ps3.

What is this locked business you speak of? You can cap the frame rate, typically at 30 for double buffered. I doubt it is triple buffered, so that means drops in the frame rate mean tearing (no vsync) or drops to 20,15,12, etc. fps (vsync).

So it was probably 30fps or tearing like a mofo.
 
What is this locked business you speak of? You can cap the frame rate, typically at 30 for double buffered. I doubt it is triple buffered, so that means drops in the frame rate mean tearing (no vsync) or drops to 20,15,12, etc. fps (vsync).

So it was probably 30fps or tearing like a mofo.

I mean it looked like it was running at a stable 24-25 fps. It wasn't going below or above that much. Locked just means an upper cap on the framerate, and it seems lower than 30.
 
I played with the lantern on, and the frame rate was fine. If anything, I think it was a tad smoother than the 360 in spots; either that or the screen tearing had my eyes playing tricks on me. PS3 version just seemed smoother overall, though I'm a bit disappointed by how muddy both versions look; especially after the game looked so sharp in the video footage.
 

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
I'm replaying the prologue and am actually trying to explore...there's actually stuff hidden around the area. Right after the stone to get the pawns, you can go up the stairs and to the left to get on top of the pillar in that room. After the harpy scene but before you go down you can go across the area and jump across from another pillar to a broken roof with a liquid that prevents your stamina from dropping for awhile. Full game should be loaded with this kind of stuff.

PS3 ran kind of bad. Is it worth downloading it on 360? Does it run better?

It runs better on 360, yeah. It has some tearing though.
 
Hmm... what PS3 do you have? Just curious if its being mean to older ps3s.

Old 60gig PS3, no framerate problems at all.


I'm replaying the prologue and am actually trying to explore...there's actually stuff hidden around the area. Right after the stone to get the pawns, you can go up the stairs and to the left to get on top of the pillar in that room. After the harpy scene but before you go down you can go across the area and jump across from another pillar to a broken roof with a liquid that prevents your stamina from dropping for awhile. Full game should be loaded with this kind of stuff.

I've found a total of six items off the beaten path.
 
Old 60gig PS3, no framerate problems at all.

Well damn, I have an 80gig. I have no idea but it didn't run very well on my ps3.

Edit: What the hell, I'm watching a video online and it is definitely running at or around 30fps. Is there something wrong with my ps3? Nothing else seems to have this issue.
 
Hmm... what PS3 do you have? Just curious if its being mean to older ps3s.

Launch 60gb. It does seem to be perhaps uniquely adept though, I didn't have any significant problems with New Vegas or Skyrim either. (Well I did have dragons flying backwards, but nothing game breaking and maybe two freezes in 100 hours). And so many people complained about PS3 framerate problems in Binary Domain but it looked nice and smooth 99% of the time to me.
 

burgerdog

Member
I have a suspicion that I simply don't notice this sort of thing, as every game GAF says has a poor framerate, has none for me. It's nice. Either that or 60gigs are just beasts.

You just can't see it, when the dragon appears in the prologue the framerate hits the teens.
 

Gbraga

Member
I played with the lantern on, and the frame rate was fine. If anything, I think it was a tad smoother than the 360 in spots; either that or the screen tearing had my eyes playing tricks on me. PS3 version just seemed smoother overall, though I'm a bit disappointed by how muddy both versions look; especially after the game looked so sharp in the video footage.

At least we can expect a PC release then? Lol
 

VashTS

Member
So is anyone feeling adventurous enough to contact Capcpom and ask if the demo is an older build and that some of the framerate and screen tearing problems are alleviated in the final build???
 

Anteater

Member
So you can't kill the lion first huh, soloing it is kind of fun, but the lion won't die :(

Well I mean it'll only die if all its health run out, but can't kill it first it seems

Edit: Seems that you could parry the boss too
 

Gbraga

Member
Damn, the more you play it the more you like it, I'm now really hyped. Should have those pawn subtitles as off by default though.

The cinematic action being on I can understand for newer players and stuff, but the dialogues won't help anyone.
 
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