Dragon’s Dogma: Worries

Article by Chet Royer

Hey there readers! This is Chet a.k.a Ninja101 here to tell you all about a certain game I was able to get my hands on at NYCC. That game is called Dragon’s Dogma by Capcom.

Now when I first heard of this game and saw the trailer a while back, I was extremely hyped. I am a huge fan of another Capcom title known as Monster Hunter. To me, Dragon’s Dogma closely resembled that game in the trailer. So I was excited to see Capcom make a game that can be as awesome as Monster Hunter. When Thursday came along, I blitzed the Capcom booth! Then I got my hands on Dragon’s Dogma! Then my smile faded…

This game is nothing like Monster Hunter! From what I can assess, this game is more like a traditional hack and slash. I guess I’ll just tell you about what I saw in the demo. The demo had two missions available for you to play. One mission had you slaying a Griffon (like the one you see in the trailer) and the other mission has you fighting your way through a dungeon and eventually fighting a boss. I was able to play both missions. I guess, unsurprisingly, the dungeon crawling mission was much more fun than the Griffon mission. Graphically, this game looks amazing. Crisp graphics with lush backgrounds that set the theme of the game perfectly were displayed in this early build demo.

On the surface the game looks epic and pretty, and then you get down to game mechanics and things become ugly. The controls are extremely cluttered and clunky. Every button does something and some buttons do more than one thing in certain circumstances. For both missions, I felt like I never got a hang on the controls. I learned that there was a button you had to press that changed your face button’s (triangle, circle, cross and square) commands from default actions to skills. So you have to figure out ways to incorporate skills into your already cluttered button inputs. There is also another game mechanic that allows you to grab onto the monster and attack via Shadow of the Colossus style. Its sounds kind of fun at first, but in practice it’s very boring. I did not even see the benefit of holding onto the monsters, because you cannot use skills while holding onto it, and eventually get knocked off. I’m sorry Capcom but the whole game play experience to me felt like one big confusing mess.

I am praying that it’s only because that this is an early build, that the game is confusing and overly cluttered. I have seen games with simpler controls that allowed you to do complex things (Monster Hunter and Dark Souls). Sadly, solely based on this demo alone, I will neither be looking forward to this release nor purchasing it. It was just a big let down.
© 2011 Linda Thai

Photography by Linda Thai

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