Dragon dogma 2 is a fascinating open-world fantasy role-playing game that gives players great freedom to explore and deep customization options to build their character and party. Dragon dogma 2 is also incredibly limiting. It doesn’t really matter what you expect based on other games you may have played (e.g. Elden Ring, Baldur’s Gate 3), and it doesn’t follow many conventions of modern game design either.
That’s kind of the appeal though – Dragon dogma 2 is a retrospective. It conforms to many of the rules defined in the original Dragon dogma more than ten years ago.
But as you begin your journey in the kingdom of Vermund, you may be wondering: Am I doing something wrong? What the hell is going on in this game? Do not worry. It’s not just you. Dragon dogma 2 is a brilliant game, but it doesn’t try to cater to all players, especially those looking for instant gratification or convenience.
There is no enemy lock-on
If you’re like me and have played a few Elden Ring lately in anticipation of Shadow of the ErdtreeWhen you arrive, you may no longer have a meeting Dragon dogma 2‘s control options to figure out how to target enemies during battle.
The point is: you can’t.
Image: Capcom
Of course, you can grab enemies to pick them up, throw them, or climb on them as if you were fighting an enemy Shadow of the Colossus boss. But you can’t click into any of the analog sticks to lock onto monsters, for example, making combat easier to wrap your head around.
Fortunately, your pawns can aim quite well. And the game may have some sort of soft lock-on to connect your attacks, but don’t expect Devil May Cry-style lock-on during combat encounters.
You have extremely limited fast travel
There’s really no easy way to travel in quickly Dragon dogma 2. You can find and purchase consumables called Ferrystones, which allow you to teleport to other locations. But teleporting is extremely Limited: There are only a few Port Crystals in the game that you can teleport to.
Instead, you’ll have to rely on your own two feet to get around the game’s massive map. Alternatively, you can take bullock carts from town to town, but they are also limited in both availability and speed. While riding in an ox cart, you can nap for much of the way, but your journey may be interrupted by monster attacks or roaming bandits, making your journey shorter.
Image: Capcom
There are also a handful of cable cars that allow you to travel the skies of this ancient land, but traveling by cable car is even more dangerous than by bullock cart. Expect to be harassed by harpies and griffins as you ride the game’s few available gondolas. (Note: You can also move around while holding some flying beasts. Just don’t expect them to take you everywhere you want to go.)
Dragon dogma 2 game director Hideaki Itsuno told it IGN in an interview earlier this year that the game’s lack of fast travel is inherent. “We put a lot of work into designing a game where you meet someone and something happens,” he explained, “so while it’s fine to have fast travel, we decided to design the map so that the journey (itself) could be enjoyed.”
There are no difficulty levels
While many modern games strive to offer a range of difficulty levels to satisfy a wide range of players, Dragon dogma 2 offers only one. If you want to make the game a little easier, hire some powerful pawns. Play as a Trickster to avoid direct combat. Just don’t expect a level of difficulty in ‘story mode’.
Do you see those towers? You can climb them… for some cardio
Dragon dogma 2The map of the city is dotted with watchtowers that provide beautiful views of the landscape. Some towers even have ballistae at the top. Your pawns will tell you that these powerful weapons might just give you a tactical advantage.
But the towers are inside Dragon dogma 2 don’t function like the towers in other open world games, especially those from Ubisoft. They will not open large portions of the in-game map. And those ballistas? They’re hard to aim, take a long time to fire, and they don’t do much damage against the game’s giant flying monsters. The towers serve as regular resetters of expectations, and they are often filled with treasure chests. Just don’t expect them to serve much further purpose.
All this is to say that whatever expectations you have Dragon dogma 2, they will be challenged in ways big and small. Some of those inverted expectations may be annoying from a quality of life perspective (there are no graphics options to speak of on consoles, for example), but others are implemented specifically to sell the realism of life in this medieval fantasy world. That means the best way to experience Capcom’s new RPG is to leave aside your assumptions from other gaming experiences.