Support NeoGAF

[Clear]

At the end of the day the game made me restart Dark Arisen since ironically the 12 year old game is IMO a more complete and better vision. DD2 just has a better Character Creator and has nice graphics.

Main story's pretty similar in both games, at the end of the day it boils down to find dragon and kill dragon. There's more side stuff in 2 but its less differentiated because of that.

I feel like what Itsuno is trying to avoid in the sequel is having a situation where the further you get the more linear and constrained the game becomes. The thing about the first game is it starts out running you along the road from Cassardis to Gran Soren, then you do a bunch of jobs to build rep in the capital that give you reason to explore parts of the world, then you go back on a linear path to fight the dragon. After that you remain basically locked in the Everfall with little reason to go out in the post-apocalyptic world because Everfall gear just obsoletes everything else.

After that of course there's the DLC on Bitterblack Isle which makes the entire rest of the game (Everfall included) obsolete from a progression standpoint, and again basically locks you in.

The unmoored world at least makes for a consistent basis to work out future expansions from, in the sense of that the established overworld stays in play.

 

[TintoConCasera]

By time you complete endgame it feels like you only played half the game. The story is good in the sense the overarching lore when you put the pieces together makes it shine. As for the immediate story surrounding your character it's weak as hell. It's not as impactful as DD1 because Grigori was a constant presence and had a distinct personality. In DD2 there is very little to drive home any personal stakes. More often then not the Arisen is just a sidepiece to the main quest important NPCs go on.

I agree witg your first statement, but I don't think the Arisen did a lot of stuff in the first game when it comes to the main quest. It's been quite a while since I played it, but wasn't it just mostly doing missions for the Duke? Like going to a place, do something and report back? Imo the story didn't pick up until Grigori crushes the upjumped zealot and challenges the Arisen to seek him out and battle.

Imo, the story is cooler in DD2 but, sadly, so poorly delivered that it makes it feel like a bunch of disjointed stuff.

At the end of the day the game made me restart Dark Arisen since ironically the 12 year old game is IMO a more complete and better vision.

Yeah it's crazy, and it makes me feel like we got monkey-pawed to death with this sequel. Hopefully a DLC/expansion will come out to better flesh out the world and make the whole game feel more completed.

DD2 just has a better Character Creator and has nice graphics.

And better combat and exploration too! Which imo is enough reason to consider it better than the first game, even if the sequel has some stuff that's worse than the first game.

 

[Agent_4Seven]

The Gigantus stuff is great, but I wish there was more to it, although.... maybe there is and I just stopped him way too fast

Those were kinda annoying at times during my playthorugh.

There's a lot of annoying things in this game, some of them makes you want to pull your hair out, but I'll get to that when I finish NG.
Also, some of these fixes (and a lot of others as well, which I don't think they'll ever fix or adress) already available via mods.

 

[MagiusNecros]

I agree witg your first statement, but I don't think the Arisen did a lot of stuff in the first game when it comes to the main quest. It's been quite a while since I played it, but wasn't it just mostly doing missions for the Duke? Like going to a place, do something and report back? Imo the story didn't pick up until Grigori crushes the upjumped zealot and challenges the Arisen to seek him out and battle.

Imo, the story is cooler in DD2 but, sadly, so poorly delivered that it makes it feel like a bunch of disjointed stuff.


Yeah it's crazy, and it makes me feel like we got monkey-pawed to death with this sequel. Hopefully a DLC/expansion will come out to better flesh out the world and make the whole game feel more completed.


And better combat and exploration too! Which imo is enough reason to consider it better than the first game, even if the sequel has some stuff that's worse than the first game.

I feel the combat is better in DD1 on the basis you can do more stuff and there are more mechanics you can use. More uses of Torpor/Slow, Poison, Lightning affects metal armor, setting yourself on Fire and running into enemies hurts them, with the exception of Warrior you have 6 skills you can set to a class.

Augments also really suck in this game. They are so uninteresting to me. Mostly just utility, QoL and defensives. The DPS ones don't do much of anything to ever actually matter. But with Martyr's Bolt and Allheal/Wakestone every boss in the game becomes toast. Ho wow.

Like sure on PC(rip Console players) you can use mods for a skill swapper or the True Warfarer mod but here I feel you are more limited in skillset. As primarily a Sorc main I have very jaded view of how the class was treated as Bolide/Maelstrom spam or just Flare Spam. And taking out Brontide and all Dark Magic is just really lame. Sorry I'm a pure Sorc guy. I'll never let this go.

I think the combat in DD2 is still good but DD1 I still prefer overall. It could also just be once you gear up and hit even lvl 30(I'm like 70 something now) a lot of enemies just aren't challenging at all. Unless the game throws everything at you or you get sideswiped by a Gore Harpy the game doesn't pose much challenge.

Have not bothered even using a Savagery Extract(Atk buff) with how cakewalk the game is.

Comparing the stories it's very clear the first game has better focus on the Arisen and the Dragon and pulling you along(I guess doing Duke stuff is a bit of a dry spell but everything else was exciting to me?) as opposed to DD2 which is not much progression or have memorable setpieces. I guess what I mean to say is that DD1 has good pacing and DD2 is kinda all over the place. The dungeons are so lacking in comparison to even the Cassardis Well(that's pretty sad IMO). And nothing in this game has anything remotely similar to the journey and the climax of Bluemoon Tower. Every dungeon being a Corridor Cave leaves much to be desired. It's like they fell in love with their cave textures for RE4R and said "Hey lets make every dungeon that!"

I did like the Elf and Vermund Regalia Sword questlines. Takes you all the over the place.

Exploration I think DD2 wins for sure. Lots to do and find. I primarily enjoy finding certain landmarks of where old areas would be from DD1.

I think the main story in DD2 is definitely more interesting once you have an idea of what's going on. The stuff involving the Seafloor Shrine is really cool shit but there just isn't enough of that. But the Vermund and Battahl stuff I really don't care for.

If DD2 goes as I expects it to I would hazard to guess the base game we have now will end up being half the story or game and the DLC is going to be our part 2. If the rumors are to be believed I think the DLC is gonna be massive. Massive in a similar vein to the upcoming Elden Ring DLC(which is gonna be a expansion or basically a ER2). I'm hoping DD2 bridges the gap between DD1 and DDO but we will see. There is evidence of more "Spellseal" doors in the game that are unused so I feel like some of those tunnels that collapsed are going to be unearthed and DLC is gonna be accessed that way.

If anything I really wish there was a way to jump back into Endgame faster then rushing Key Quests because Endgame has materials you can't get anywhere else. And I'm rather bothered that the game world does not have a lot of enemy spawns for those stronger boss variants.

Looking forward for DLC. Hopefully something to top Bitter Black Isle.

 

[Topher]

Yerd Man.....not sure when you sent over the finder's stone, but I got it. Really appreciate it brother. I took a break for a bit, but now I'm feeling the urge to jump back in.

Thanks again.

 

[DaciaJC]

If you've played the Vermintide series, you'll know of the fantastic voice acting in those games. I came across some characters voiced by the same actors as Saltzpyre, Bardin, and Kruber in the span of about twenty minutes, really made my night. I wonder if Sienna or Kerillian's voice actresses are also in the game.

 

[Agent_4Seven]

Just finished all of the stuff you need to do before the last beacon in Unmoored World.

BOY OH BOY (!!!) do I have things to say. I literally can't wait to write about everything, it's going to be a shit ton of words but I need to get it out of my chest.
I know that not a lot of people here like to read a ton of text so there'll be quick summary available as well.

Uh, goddamin it, Capcom, god-effin'-damnit....

 

[MagiusNecros]

Just finished all of the stuff you need to do before the last beacon in Unmoored World.

BOY OH BOY (!!!) do I have things to say. I literally can't wait to write about everything, it's going to be a shit ton of words but I need to get it out of my chest.

Looking forward to it.

 

[DavidGzz]

I'm back in, boys! One more playthrough.

 

[Orbital2060]

DD1: Dark Arisen is on sale for a nice price on Xbox, for a few more days. I just noticed and bought a copy. I havent played any of this series yet, so Im gonna start there.

 

[semiconscious]

DD1: Dark Arisen is on sale for a nice price on Xbox, for a few more days. I just noticed and bought a copy. I havent played any of this series yet, so Im gonna start there.

you've made a wise choice. much better game than the new one, imo. enjoy!...

 

[Agent_4Seven]

Slowly preparing for inevitable expansion. Almost completed everything in Vermund locations, properly finished / started some quests I missed / completed in not the right way (cuz I basically started exploring everything in the world before doing story quests), got the rest of meister skills (except one, I need to go to Battahl for this one) and now it's time to go to Battahl.

Playing as Archer the whole day and it's great, much better than boring Magic Archer cuz you're actually doing cool shit in combat instead of shooting homing magic arrows and waiting for arrows to lock on targets. I mean, I'm obviously overleveled for NG+ cuz it's basically NG difficulty wise, but still, I'm having a lot of fun playing as Archer, a really cool class. Sadly though, there's not a lot of cool armor sets for the Archer class and especially when it comes to boots, when you compare to other classes such as Fighter and Warrior. We'll see if I try out Thief before finishing with the Battahl quests.

I'm pretty sure that expansion will take place before the endgame and before you'll finish doing stuff in the Volcanic island even, cuz it doesn't make sense for it start in the endgame cuz you're on the timer there (it doesn't really matter all that much, but still) and the world turned into shit. Anyway, I'll be ready by the time the expansion will be released, which I think will happen at the end of this year or during spring next year and after RE9.

 

[Black_Mamba]

Slowly preparing for inevitable expansion. Almost completed everything in Vermund locations, properly finished / started some quests I missed / completed in not the right way (cuz I basically started exploring everything in the world before doing story quests), got the rest of meister skills (except one, I need to go to Battahl for this one) and now it's time to go to Battahl.

Is this a mod for the photo mode? On PS5 at least you can’t move the camera much.

 

[Agent_4Seven]

Is this a mod for the photo mode? On PS5 at least you can’t move the camera much.

Yes, RE Framework plus all AI upscaled vanilla textures (environment, weapons, armor, NPCs etc.) to 4K and full res RT - there's only half res RT in the game by default with a lot of pixel breakup during movement, full res RT fixes this and even though not completely eliminating the problem, it looks a lot better and more clean.

 

[Majukun]

Strange to say since I did sink a lot of hours in the game so far, but if the objective was to make traveling and exploration fun, they kind of kissed the mark... Not enough variety of encounters for such a big map

 

[Agent_4Seven]

OMG!

Default RTGI:

PT (7 bounces)

It's a bit noisy in one place (shadows from the lanter on a tent), but good lord the game looks immensely better with even this not finished PT built into the game
Can you guys imagine playing the game 10-15 years later on a hardware which can actually run the game @4K 60 like this with all textures upscaled to 4K? What a fuckin' way to future proof the game, daaaaamn. I fuckin' love PC gaming for things like this.

P.S. Why the fuck I didn't install PT mod earlier to make the shots? Fuck!

 

[Agent_4Seven]

I swear this game has some side quests locked behind NG+ cuz Idk how else to explain that in NG+, I already stumbled upon a few of them I never even seen in NG and they're not related to story, it's just random shit happening and you get them by just walking around in the city while doing other stuff - which I did hundreds of times in NG and never got these quests

​

There's also Seeker's Coins I keep finding in places I already been but there was no coins there before and other places that had coins don't have them.....

 

[SkylineRKR]

I am at the end of the regular game. And the gameplay is top notch. Its very addicting. I started with Fighter until 5, then maxed Warrior, Thief and Archer and played Magick Archer until 6. And now I am close to max with Fighter. I like the classes, though Thief is absolutely fucking OP.

I like making runs through the lands, surviving an onslaught of enemies, and then finally reaching a camp. There is lots of stuff going on about the fast travel, but with some planning its not that bad. You get a fair few, and you can dupe one at the Sphinx (granted you can't know this when going in blind). But you don't really need that much. I think the only flaw is that Battahl doesn't have one, but Harve does. Though you can reach Battahl by 2 Oxcarts from Vermund, and sometimes you aren't ambushed and there within seconds.

The bigger problem is the Ferrystones, you can pilfer them from stunned Griffons and other enemies (hire thiefs with Plunder and Implicate), and lots of quest givers that demand a long journey will give one too. I liked the Eternal Ferrystone in DA, but it wasn't there from the beginning. It makes you weigh your options, use one or travel? I kind of like this dynamic.

But the story... its...

its fucking horrible. Worse than the original. What happened? This is really like one of the worst stories in modern gaming, its pure trash. Ok so you start out in a labor camp because

Spoiler

you memories are being wiped, and put there by the Queen Regent, who is in cahoots with a top dog alchemist from Battahl named Phaesus. They installed a fake Arisen, so that her son can eventually rule and not the Arisen. So far so good. Then you are met by insiders who oppose her ideas, and you plan to overthrow her by doing quests and finding dirt on her and the such. But once everything is in place, you immediately nope out because of some device called the Godsway and are sent to Battahl to find answers on this device. And then literally nothing happens anymore. Until the end where you suddenly have to bring an even stronger version of the Godsway to Phaesus to sort of assist him but he doesn't know you are sent and even tries to stall you lol. This could work if there was at least some character building explaining the motives of characters, state of the world and all, but its clear that everything inbetween has been cut.

And whats really hilarious is that your supporters hide your Arisen status, but every single character your meet, and I do mean everyone, knows you are the true Arisen anyway. You can casually stroll into the castle, speak to the Queen regent, pick her up or kill her. Nothing happens.

But, slaying Dragons is fun. I found Thief and Magick Archer too easy. I offed a Lesser Dragon with a Fighter, and my pawns died rather quickly. It was hard as fuck because you need to reach all those cyst weak points yourself. But I felt accomplishment when I finally put it down.

 

[SkylineRKR]

I beat Unmoored too. Its easy as fuck. Okay, if you did a fair share of things in the main game that is. If you have a stack of wakestones and Allheals you can easily beat this. I never rested.

The true ending was unsurprisingly, rather stupid.

Spoiler

All you need to do in Unmoored World is clear those red orbs on the map. If you have placed Portcrystals at every major location you can instantly warp to those. Once you cleared those, I think the mist is gone and you can rest without penalty (though I read there is a 12 rest limit, so eventually there is no way to respawn enemies anymore). This is the moment where your Allheal Elixirs become useful, they restore your loss gauge. Pawns you can just replace when they get too low. One red beam is left at the Shrine and its puzzling there is no warning on that one, since it brutally kicks you into the ending so never touch it if you don't want to leave yet.

After closing the other beams you can activate and do some evacuation quests in all towns. After evacuating there is nothing to do besides grinding materials and killing dragons etc. I bought all ultimate gear with crystals for my main and Pawn, upgraded it and left. You don't need any money anymore, and Ferrystones drop very liberally here which is good.

Whats stupid is that if you want the good ending, you effectively never fight a boss. You have to use the Godsbane item on the dragon heart to unlock the post-game world, and after exiting the last beam in the post-game you don't get a boss fight either lol.

Still, the gameplay of this game is one of a kind and its what kept me coming back. It feels really good. But even the first game felt more complete than this. I am also not sold on the 4 skill limit on all classes except for one. Casters have been heavily neutered too, though what they have is still OP. There are many well documented faults with this game, but I am happy there is a new Dragons Dogma to begin with. I do hope this also isn't what Itsuno really wanted to make though. Maybe attempt 3 will be it.

 

[Buggy Loop]

Gotta say, capcom's patching pace sucks balls on PC

Turning me off from their future projects.

 

[Feel Like I'm On 42]

Game remains a big disappointment for me on PS5. Not do much because of the crap performance but because the combat. How you going to devolve in this area compared to the first game? Less abilities and the character has no weight to him so I feel like I'm just sliding and bouncing around the environment, unlike the first which felt Grounded and solid.

 

[R6Rider]

I need to go back and finish this. Was busy after release and then Stellar Blade came out.

 

[Perfo]

Started this only recently, never played the first one, and really enjoying it for the sandbox approach of the overall package. The only thing that really baffles me is the decision to make almost any NPC just a doll moving around… they rarely have anything interesting to say at least up until now and they all look as placeholders lol. I mean shouldn’t this be an rpg at its core? Why there’s almost zero dialogues in the game with anyone lol? That’s weird to me but maybe o should look at the game from another angle

 

[TintoConCasera]

I swear this game has some side quests locked behind NG+ cuz Idk how else to explain that in NG+, I already stumbled upon a few of them I never even seen in NG and they're not related to story, it's just random shit happening and you get them by just walking around in the city while doing other stuff - which I did hundreds of times in NG and never got these quests

​

There's also Seeker's Coins I keep finding in places I already been but there was no coins there before and other places that had coins don't have them.....

Lol, that quest definetly is available in NG.

Started this only recently, never played the first one, and really enjoying it for the sandbox approach of the overall package. The only thing that really baffles me is the decision to make almost any NPC just a doll moving around… they rarely have anything interesting to say at least up until now and they all look as placeholders lol. I mean shouldn’t this be an rpg at its core? Why there’s almost zero dialogues in the game with anyone lol? That’s weird to me but maybe o should look at the game from another angle

It's not an RPG like Elder Scrolls or Fallout, but more of an ARPG, with simpler quests and more focus on combat and exploring. At least that how I see it.

 

[Agent_4Seven]

Lol, that quest definetly is available in NG.

If it is, it didn't trigger for some reason.

IIrc, in the latest patch they've fixed quests in the game which people couldn't start or complete, so maybe it was a bug.

 

[SkylineRKR]

I beat NG+ with Rook in my party from start to finish. Ofcourse he's useless after the few first mission, but its fucking Rook.