In this post I’m adopting a different speaking direction where I don’t review the game and instead talk about what I like or differences to other games. We’ll see how I feel about it as time moves on.
I have a special place in my heart for J-RPG’s. The Eastern way of thinking forces my brain to examine it’s approach and develop new lines of logic. A process I enjoy when given the necessary time to percolate. I especially enjoy them when they don’t provide you the ‘minecart’ experience. A process by which you mash the buttons and are given a whirlwind ride through the plot and world. That gets old after a while.
So with some eager glee and a dose of masochism I picked up Dragon’s Dogma. By all reports, a hybrid game with elements of Monster Hunter, Skyrim and Demon’s Souls. I encourage you to look up those titles. They’re each a quality piece on their own.
There are what I think three details that make this game challenging and good.
One) No fast travel. Yep, you’re walking everywhere you go and then back home again. There is a ‘Ferrystone’ you can get but they’re expensive. Very expensive.
Two) Health doesn’t recover. And I don’t mean ‘in fights’ I mean at all. You need healing or product to recover lost damage. Magic only goes so far, as each time you take damage you lose capacity on your health bar. Say I have 1000 hit points. I take a stab in the face from a goblin because I was screwing around, lose roughly 100 health. I might be able to recover 50 points of that via magic. The rest, lost. Until I formally rest or drink some potions.
Three) Some monsters are more or less resistant to certain kinds of damage. For instance, the Ogre is a cave dwelling badass that prefers chicks. He’ll maul your female party members before focusing on your dudes. And he’s -extremely- reisstant to physical damage. For a low magic party, that’s challenging. And it can take ‘a while’.
All in all it’s a quality title that I’m really enjoying with a minor amount of party management and a challenging game style. I recommend it for anyone who enjoys 3rd person sword and sorcery games.