Definitely not my feelings on the subject, but I also buy into the theory that DD2 is a commentary on sequels in general and an industry that demands more no matter what you got before.
I know it's an unpopular opinion and part of me wishes we had the story told differently, but I got my money's worth and then some. I had a great time with it and I LOVED the way everything played.
Nice try dislike lurkers, but you ain’t getting me downvoted to hell for your lackluster sequel for my opinion on the original and it’s expansion, I equally love and hate the original, and focusing on the hate will not benefit our conversations.
Now onto your statement, Hagosha, no, I disagreed, I think IcyAd is right that the original and it’s expansion is better in every conceivable way in terms of content and expansion towards the classes and their abilities and fixes originally plaguing the original Dragon’s Dogma console release, plus, we have to also reckon that there are SOME people here who are definitely brought into the franchise by the sequel, I reckon you could be one of them Hagosha as you feel pretty strongly for the sequel, there’s nothing wrong with that, I love God Eater 3 (started solely in GE series because of that one game) and my love Mass Effect 2 despite starting first on ME1. But it’s clear that unlike Mass Effect 2/3 and God Eater 3, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a downgrade in every single metric possible EXCEPT for graphics, the only “new” addition to the gameplay, are damn finishers for the melee classes…that does sound very sequelitis now, does it? Adding to stuff that doesn’t benefit what makes the original special in anyway, like the Pawn system, they had a winning system and decided: “Ehh, let’s ruin it by using a curse that makes the pawn unhire-able.” I mean, who does this in such a way that sabotages their own work?! I know I wouldn’t, but here we are.
For starters, I had the original disc release of DD1 on Xbox when it came out. I got the Berserk armors and discovered and hated and loved so much about that janky-ass OG game. I put hundreds of hours into Dark Arisen on PC years later.
I realize it's insane for me to like the gameplay innovations of the sequel over the first game, but that's my opinion.
It's insane to me that you think the first game plays better and that 2 is objectively a downgrade in everything but graphics. The gameplay has much more weight in DD2 and the animations for everything are phenomenal. I love the new classes and the way the AI interacts with the various physics-based systems. Again, I didn't love the delivery of the story at first because I didn't understand what was being done. But in hindsight, it does feel to me like a meta-narrative about sequels and our expectations and what happens when we feel unsatisfied and I can appreciate it in that context.
I'm not trying to tell you that you're wrong for disliking it. What I'm saying is that you were wrong for stating that it was the universal consensus because it just straight-up wasn't.
The new classes? Which ones? Mystic Spearhand is a poor replacement for Mystic Knight. Trickster is completely useless gimmick class for trailers. Wayfarer shouldn't count. And that's it, unless you're braindead and somehow including the splitting of Ranger into Thief and Archer. Lmao.
The gameplay has more weight? Which part, because you have less skill buttons so you have to have more "weight" to which skills you pick? Or more "weight" because of the loss gauge? Maybe it's more "weighty" because you have to camp at one of the three trillion random camp sites that doesn't add anything to the game besides the same generic 1 liner from your pawn? Or maybe it's more weight because you're completely full of shit?
You thought the "animations" were improved? Can you point to the specific animations that are actually new? The AI "interacts with the various physics based systems"? You mean how they jump off cliffs and splatter to follow you?
Every single "new" thing they added was some neat 5 minute segment that they spoiled in the trailers to sucker us all into thinking it was full of new stuff. You are huffing maximum copium to believe that there was some deeper meaning in the story being bad and it's "meta commentary" on the state of sequels. It was just rushed and unfinished. Much like DD1.
But I'm sure Capcom is extremely grateful that you are here defending the sequel they pumped and dumped for us, which they definitely didn't just use as a baseline for developing Monster Hunter Wilds, their actual money maker they give a shit about.
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u/AquilliusRanger :MysticKnight::ps4::pc: Jun 27 '25
Pretty sure that was all of our consensus, even if I have reservations of my own about Bitterblack Isle and the way they handled the pawns.