Year of the Dragon's Dogma 2 Pt 3

So here I am, doing Part 3 of my Dragon's Dogma 2 post series. I'm doing this post mainly because I downloaded its character creator and want to say some things about it. However, I need more than character creation to do a post, no matter how short it may be. Thankfully, there are other things for me to talk about. I hope to come up with a decent length of words.

People die when they are killed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAXvqVvyEPg

In a recent article, Itsuno mentioned the issue of NPC death. This is interesting because of the possible situational context. Namely, escort quests. That's the only possibility. This leads to why Itsuno mentioned character deaths in this possible context. Was it because character death is impossible in the first Dragon's Dogma game where escort quests are concerned? It's interesting because under what other circumstances would you have an NPC with you who can only kill a rabbit at best? Another question is whether such a scenario would suit a ranged vocation better than a melee. Imagine running back and forth to ensure no one dies in the process. Or you don't have to do anything for the aggro to attack the NPC. Who knows?

Safety hazards. Please be careful

One possibility in Dragon's Dogma is being grabbed by a flying object and dropped to the ground. Obviously, this leads to instant death. In the second game, everything stayed the same, which leads to the question of how to predict such circumstances. The reality is that players shouldn't expect themselves to zoom the camera upwards once every five minutes to see whether there's some kind of UFO waiting to abduct them like a terrorist. That'd be too tiring. Then I came across a YouTube short by someone called Dantics where he was gushing over the combat system. My focus was on something other than that. Instead, I was paying attention to the final scene, where a goblin ran up and unleashed a rolling boulder of doom to flatten the Arisen. The only ones flattened by the rolling boulder of doom were its fellow goblins (no IDF-Hamas comparisons, please). This begs whether some rumbling sound would come out. After all, it's physics. While it makes more sense to see the boulder of doom rolling down and react accordingly instead of doing the same by listening, would abnormal sounds be used to alert Arisens of potential flying objects out to abduct them? It'd be weird to hear a griffin chirp like a sparrow. As for what kind of sound harpies make apart from singing, like how harpies sing in BG3, that would be interesting. Although I'm very sure they won't be clucking like chickens. It'd be a bummer to get abducted in an open space with no terrain to hide as a countermeasure. Or move in another direction when an abnormal sound comes out. Of course, there is another possibility. Namely, a Pawn pointing out a flying object nearby. Seriously, it'd be terrible to be abducted without warning.

Are inns all over the place?

One question about Dragon's Dogma 2 is how many settlements will be in the game. In the previous DD game, there were only two settlements: Cassardis and Gran Soren. This time around, there may be more if there's anything implied by the oxcarts. Last time I checked, oxcarts didn't exist in the first DD game. And besides, including them would be weird since it's only two locations. As a result, there's likely an inn for every settlement. The same goes for vendors, although I can't say the same for counterfeiters. Then we have the vocation maisters. Will they be concentrated at the starting village of Melve? I doubt so. If there's any additional motivation behind exploration, it'd be finding vocation maisters as if you're playing Pokemon Go. In fact, some of the vocation maisters may not even be in settlements if Sigurd's images on the official site are anything to go by.

Royal Rumble

I've seen some gameplay footage on YouTube, and the combat gameplay really resembles a tavern brawl more than an organised fight. In this sense, DD2 isn't Elden Ring. The latter is more about duelling and an organised approach to combat. DD2? If Elden Ring is the showcase event of Wrestlemania, DD2 is the showcase event of the Royal Rumble. Target prioritising is definitely important. I've seen a gameplay video on YouTube where an armoured cyclops fight was complicated by a pack of wolves, and the streamer got murdered by those mutts because they weren't dealt with fast enough.

Oh, and one more thing. It's always possible for one giant monster to gatecrash your fight with another big monster. In this battle between Godzilla and Mechagodzilla, it's a no-brainer to focus on the one you're fighting instead of fighting both Godzilla and Mechagodzilla.

Adjustable difficulty

Itsuno had said that DD2 would be more challenging than the first DD. Unless Reno Gazette Journal got the translation wrong (which in theory at least was possible), the exact wording is, "a pretty hard game compared to the previous one". I googled the first DD game's difficulty level, and the feedback was that the original game was already hard enough. It's as if Itsuno thought the first game was way too easy. Again, this might be a translation error. Things did happen before.

Mistranslation or not, this made me wonder whether I should purchase the game. The reason is that I have a job, and the work-life balance in Singapore is stereotypically East Asian. Just look at Japan, South Korea, and China. They're East Asian countries. Then, take a look at Singapore. We're an East Asian majority country. In fact, it was a miracle (or a madman's determination) that I could clear the entire FF14 storyline in slightly over a year. I'm not my fellow Singaporean, whose name is Arthars. He games for a living. I don't. I can't say I envy him, but I can say we live two very different lives. At the same time, FF14 Dawntrail is coming out possibly around this June/July (apparently, it's back on schedule for Yoshi-P and co considering Endwalker's release date was an anomaly). There is still a chance for me to try out DD2, though. In the worst-case scenario, I would end up burning 90+ SGD. I'm actually a flat-spender who rarely spends money on new games.

Interestingly, there were Steam community users who said the game was easy. Some said that hard mode was... well, hard, while others said it was only hard on paper. This might imply that a lot hinges on your party setup since you must fight blind to discover an enemy's weakness. That plus doing the notice board quests. Can you imagine doing the Cassardis well quest at a level lower than 7 or 8? Those reptiles would curbstomp you. And don't get people started on rescuing Quina from Witchwood.

This brings us to the issue of adjustable difficulty. The big question is how it would work. From what I assumed in the context (i.e. Itsuno mentioned implementing it into the system), it's likely something like Resident Evil 4 Remake. Coincidentally, both were made using the RE Engine. If anything is to go from RE Remake's example, we may have three tiers of difficulty. The lowest tier could yield more health curative drops, while standard difficulty wouldn't add anything. As for the third tier of difficulty, that may be the hard mode players of the first game would be familiar with. Beyond that, AI difficulty would remain unchanged, with the challenge level adjusted according to player performance. Of course, would every player be okay with it? I'm sure some would rather see the standard difficulty slider instead of this. In fact, I understand if someone says this is a controversial decision.

On one hand, casual gamers would be forced out of their comfort zone in ways more than one. On the other hand, hardcore gamers may feel this is nothing more than a sub-par hard mode. One thing I suspect about Itsuno's vision for DD2 is that he's out to prove casual gamers can play games of a higher difficulty so long the conditions are right. On the flip side, DD2 combat involves a narrower scope of concentration due to how the ability controls work. It's more about getting used to menu-switching and going on from there. It's like 2 core skills, 4 weapon skills, and 6 augments. That's it. I wouldn't be surprised if theory-crafting in DD2 will be easier than some may think.

Lastly, here's some Pawn designs I've made

Character creation for DD2 is now making the news from Kotaku to Forbes. All over the world, gamers are creating designs from Timothée "the Jewish version of Timothy" Chalamet and the Emilia "she survived it like Clark Kent's sis" Clarke version of Daenerys Targaryen to the likes of Doraemon and Pikachu. As if that's not enough, some channelled their inner Ito "the Stephen King of Japan" Junji (it will be hilarious if the likes of Chalamet, Clarke, and Ito end up playing DD2 because of this). While I didn't attempt my own version of Karolina "no pun jokes on her last name, please" Shiino and Yamasaki "the first alphabet of YKK" Taku, I did try to create the DD2 version of Koizumi "he's not responsible for Super Mario" Junichiro. It was a failure, and I gave up the ghost. I tried creating Ronald Reagan. I nearly succeeded because there was a character face template that looked like him. However, the hairstyle option wasn't available. That plus the upper lip of the so-called Reagan model clearly didn't look... well, Reagan. It's interesting to see some character face templates looking like people we see on TV or in movies. An example is the Sean "not Austin" Astin version of Samwise Gamgee. It's nuts if you're to ask me.

To give myself a challenge, I decided to create an Emilia Clarke. Not the Daenerys version but herself as a person. So why did I choose to do so? The reason is this image below. Apparently, one thing led to an urge to do something crazy.

Seriously, you can really do this if you dare to.

No, she won't be my main Pawn if I play this game.

Streamlining of inclinations

I'm going to point out that Pawn inclination has been streamlined. In the first game, it can seem convoluted. You have nine options, each with strengths and weaknesses depending on your party setup. In DD2, however, you only have four options: Kindhearted, Calm, Simple, and Straightforward. I'd say it makes your Pawn planning much easier as the text is easy to understand (i.e. you have a good idea of what your main Pawn will probably do). So unless Itsuno chucks a curveball at the players, I don't think inclination change will be an issue.

And to end this post...

I decided to take the DD2 vocation quiz. While I don't take such a thing seriously more often than not, the results made me reassess myself. Is my way of doing things constructive to playing a Thief? Or does it make me better for other vocations? After a few attempts at doing the quiz (it's on the official site), I realise maybe, just maybe, I'm more comfortable playing a Magick Archer if the vocation quiz is anything to go by. Sure, my focus thrives on adrenaline. In this manner, I can try out the Thief vocation. After all, playing a Thief is probably about climbing and stabbing until your stamina hits below 50% (around 30%, by my estimation, if you have the Endurance augment). At the same time, however, I wouldn't be surprised if I'd perform better from range due to a better time reading the fight. Either way, I don't function well as a player if I'm playing as a tank.

If I insist on playing Thief, the Weapon Skills list may look like this: Helm Splitter/Biting Wind, Enkindled Blades, Powder Charge (apparently, triggering the bomb would result in auto retreating. Good for getting off a Godzilla if it starts thrashing like an angry American) and Smoke Screen for tanking support/Concussive Step for Helm Splitter follow-up. If I were to play a Magick Archer, I would use Irradiant Orb (for open-space AoE), Ricochet Seeker (for closed-space AoE), Flamefang Arrow (which will probably be my staple spell 9 out of 10 times), and Remedy Arrow (healing or rezzing).

Speaking of Magick Archer, one thing I noticed about playing this and the Archer vocation is that using a keyboard and mouse differs from using the controller. Using the controller means you have more say in mobility, as the left analog stick is intended to have better movement than the W-A-S-D keys on the keyboard. Can you imagine moving and shooting with a keyboard and mouse? I don't know about you, but it's unthinkable to me. Playing with a keyboard and mouse means effective positioning is more vital than mobility.

This is what it means to play with a controller

This is what it means to play with a keyboard and mouse