Dragon's Dogma 2

Honestly runs pretty good

If you’re the type of person who enjoys spending their evening debugging memory dumps rather than, you know, playing a video game, then CAPCOM has just delivered your Game Of The Year! Welcome to Dragon’s Dogma 2, the first piece of software in history that actively HATES even running. The RE Engine has transformed the mundane act of “walking from point A to point B” or character creation into a high-octane gamble of when are you going to see the inevitable DXGI_ERROR_DEVICE_HUNG popup? You don’t traverse a landscape in this game; you tiptoe through a digital minefield, praying the memory allocation doesn't smite you for opening the escape menu, inventory or the map. I don’t care if you’re running a NASA supercomputer, it doesn’t matter. The engine’s garbage collection of Epic Megascans unoptimized assets is a pathetic joke (thanks for filling me in, programmer friend), a wooden house of cards nearly devoured by termites where some faulty execution path in the compiled binary always leads to a fatal error. The crashes are a feature for this game. It crashes in the character creator for no reason at all. It crashes when you hit “Doze Off” at the inn, which is ironic, because the game instantly dozes off the minute you start experiencing anything close to fun. It crashes if you look at it with a hint of disapproval. The shader compilation process turns your PC into a turbine jet warming up for takeoff, just so you can watch it buckle under. It's like the studio saw the word "compression" in a dictionary once and set the page on fire and sniffed lines of blow, coded this game, then DOVE OFF A BRIDGE. I’ve spent my entire “playtime” translating EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION codes. I’ve become intimately familiar with the architecture of the crash reporter, which is the only part of this product that works reliably. When the developer shrugs and blames your hardware, do us all a favor: don’t believe a word of it. This isn't a driver hiccup. This is a codebase that looks at a valid memory address and decides to drive a truck through your living room wall. This is a system stability ritual that turns your patience into a twitching eyelid. Do not buy Dragon’s Dogma 2 if you value your GPU’s lifespan, your sanity, or comically just want to play the game. How silly are you? Why would you expect to play a game in your Steam library? 0/10. A masterpiece of developer failure. It’s not that the gameplay is bad, I loved the 10 seconds I was able to play, again and again and again and FOR FOUR DAYS STRAIGHT; the software is fundamentally incapable of being turned on, like a customer service chatbot being sexted by a horny pet store manager with 35 cats and no life.

dogma's dragon

now gut

Grand and much more alive than the opus one (which i liked too)

This game is great in a lot of ways, but ultimately, its flawed storytelling is why I can’t recommend it. All of the quests require you to do things in very specific ways, ways that don’t really make a lot of sense. Other games would allow for multiple solutions, but with DD2 it’s like the designer said, “here’s the one way I think each quest should be done, let’s ignore everything else.” Add to that, that most if all the good parts you have to stumble on… Add to that, that it’s really easy to ruin a run accidentally… And the world feels “dead” most of the NPCs are just background. Sure, they say a few lines but they don’t ever really do anything. It’s not that the game is hard, it’s not. It’s that every quest requires such specific actions. You will not have a satisfying walkthrough unless you use guides because then you’ll miss everything… but using guides, it feels like you’re acting out a script for the pleasure of the game designer. It should be their job to entertain you not the other way around. My advice for the studio: Before your next release, every member of the design team must watch a family member playthrough the game… BUT you’re not allowed to give them ANY hints or advice. Besides that, the engine is fine, the combat is lively, and the graphics are just below top-notch. This should be a fantastic game… just the way the storyline is so forced, it’s not fun.

Dragon's Dogma 2 is a difficult game to review because, despite all of its flaws, I still had a great time with it. I enjoyed it so much that I completed 100% of the game, but at the same time I cannot ignore the feeling that this was supposed to be a bigger evolution of the original. My experience with the game started with a lot of frustration. At launch, Dragon's Dogma 2 had serious performance problems. With a Ryzen 3600 and RTX 4070 Ti, I could barely maintain around 30 FPS when entering larger cities. I had to use mods to force better performance and make the game run in a more acceptable way. Thankfully, many of these issues have been improved over time, and the current version is much better than the launch release. The biggest strength of Dragon's Dogma 2 is that it still feels like Dragon's Dogma. The atmosphere, world design and unique approach to fantasy RPGs are still here. The game has a special charm that separates it from other titles in the genre. Exploring the world, fighting monsters and traveling with your pawns still creates moments that few other RPGs can replicate. The combat is still fun, but this is also where one of my biggest disappointments comes from. The first game had an incredible combat system with different classes that completely changed how you played. Dragon's Dogma 2 improves the presentation but does not push the system far enough. In many ways, combat feels like a step sideways rather than a true evolution, and some aspects are actually less satisfying than in the original. The story is another mixed element. While the game has a fantastic twist but the overall storytelling is weaker than the first game. The way the plot is presented and how some events are handled leaves a lot to be desired. Unfortunately, Dragon's Dogma 2 repeats some of the mistakes of the original instead of fixing them. The game takes several big steps forward, but also takes smaller steps backward in areas where fans expected improvements. There was also controversy around the game's DLC, especially the additional items sold separately at launch. Some players criticized Capcom for creating a P2W situation. The DLC itself did not ruin the game, but the decision to sell these kinds of items created unnecessary negativity and damaged the game's reputation. Despite that, I still really enjoyed my time with Dragon's Dogma 2. It has a unique identity, fantastic moments and a world that kept me playing until I saw everything it had to offer. I will give it a Recommended rating because Steam does not offer a Mixed rating, and this game absolutely does not deserve a Negative review. It feels like Capcom had the opportunity to create something truly revolutionary. Pros: + Unique atmosphere and fantasy world + Fantastic pawn system + Great monster encounters + Beautiful visuals and world design + Still feels unlike any other RPG + Some excellent surprises and twists + Very enjoyable exploration Cons: - Poor optimization at launch - Performance issues can still appear - Combat is worse than the first game in some areas - Story is weaker despite having a great twist - Repeats old problems instead of fully fixing them - Unnecessary DLC controversy