Reed 🐮🐻‍

I've been playing Dragon's Dogma 1 and, about 15 minutes before this post, I failed an escort quest. I let the NPC die, because I'd specialized my party for damage - two Warriors, a Sorcerer, and a Strider - and neglected to bring any healing for the NPC. So now she's just... gone, dead to a harpy - I think - and I have to live with the consequences of my poor planning. I can't help but think that in another game it might have zoomed in on her reaching out her hand and saying something dramatic, but I almost didn't even notice her on the ground in the panic.

The word unforgiving gets thrown around a lot in regards to games, like unforgiving difficulty or whathaveyou, but I think Dragon's Dogma is... unconcerned, maybe. It presents itself as the way it is, and if the player tries to engage with it in a way that it isn't, then DD's unconcerned with that. Oh, well, guess you've closed some doors - tough luck. I like that friction. Let there be consequences to actions, even the small ones, but not in a punishing sort of way; it's just how it is.

Really enjoyed your writeup o7

I haven't taken the plunge with DD2 yet even though I loved 1, and part of me does worry how/if Capcom will respond to the response to the game's more jagged edges--if I shouldn't try to play it before things get sanded down... I say that as someone who certainly enjoyed the infinite-use Ferrystone in Dark Arisen, though (having gone on plenty of hikes in the original release, at least).

Thank you for the write-up!
I first knew the original Dragon's Dogma as a cryptic and hostile game, and didn't think I was interested in it. I then learned it was a game where you could be a Panzer Dragoon archer, and I decided to brave a cryptic and hostile game so I could be a Panzer Dragoon. And through that process, I came to actually like the crypticness and hostility (especially because some of the systems you expect to be cryptic aren't even as complicated and full of friction as in other games, such as crafting and item upgrades, and I never felt like I could accidentally make a bad character with my progression choices). So it's very surprising to me that DD2 is finding a mass audience that doesn't first know the game as cryptic and hostile but full of weird wonders for those who dare explore it, not unlike the platonic ideal of an RPG dungeon.

I can't really put into words how much this just sold me on the game, but my god do I need to pick this up now!

The very notion of consequence in a game these days... You rarely see it outside of maybe the roguelike genre. Even then, whoops, got a game over buddy? No worries, here's your new character right as rain and ready to go. A lasting impact is downright novel.

fuck yeah

there's a real sense of completionism rampant in contemporary design (you could probably draw a line from xbox 360 achievements to fortnite battle pass), but imo a strong memory of a temporary experience is a lot more valuable than having collected all 50 costumes in spider-man or w/e

this is the first description of dragonplague i have read, and it made me laugh merrily. i Love when a game punishes Gamers who ignore warnings

The inn system is kinda generous, feels like it acts as a deliberate way to save scum (though I've not encountered dragonplague or inn related shenanigans). Set a hard save at the inn, then play as usual. Need to reverse time, load up that inn save. Even if it was 2 hours of playtime ago, it will still work for save scumming.

I appreciate how little the anti cheat systems engage with single player content. No consequence from duplicating portcrystals and ferrystones, golden trove beetles, changing your gold value, but adjusting the friction to the levels that work for the player. (I wouldn't recommend doing any edits to your pawn, bad form and likely would trigger some reaction). Teaches a good lesson too, in that you don't have to oblige by design decisions, and you can make your own, if you are willing to try.
Its quite rewarding to load up cheat engine and figure it out as it were. Here's to solving trials and having a good time!😁

Thank you for expressing this as clearly as you did. Public understanding of the MTX will, hopefully, shift with time. And hopefully it doesn't lead to Capcom forcing more impactful microtransactions in the future.

Thank you for writing this!

It's been a bit surreal hearing about the discourse from the sidelines as someone who played the heck out of Dragon's Dogma 1 because the friction was the point and appeal of the game. It's like being someone who enjoys hiking but everyone keeps asking why you don't just drive to the destination instead.

I think Dragon's Dogma 2 had the right intentions, but fell on its face when it came to the execution. I'm a big fan of friction like difficulty or punishing the player for their actions, but with Dragon's Dogma I rarely felt like the world had a proper reaction to anything I did.

My biggest source of friction was crashes and losing progress (crashing while autosaving can delete the autosave, making you restart from the last inn). This, combined with a few other issues, ended up making for a pretty unenjoyable overall experience.

I clear out Trevo Mine on a major side quest to unlock new vocations, only to be told to go back there immediately for a main quest.

There aren't very many unique enemies in the game, so traveling through the same place multiple times rarely let me experience something new.

Jail felt pointless when you'd just open your cell and the guards would watch you walk out. The game repeatedly warns you about trespassing, but the guards didn't seem to care.

Nearly all my / my party's deaths were due to fall damage from bad collision and pathing. Combat was trivial; near the beginning of the game there's an easily accessible invincible / instakill Thief build that trivializes the game, so I switched to Mystic Spearhand only to quickly gain another invincibility skill (although not nearly as powerful). I had to actively restrict myself from certain skills to make combat interesting.

Quests rarely had interesting rewards, with just about all the best gear being available in shops. The boss of a questline being an enemy you had killed several times on the way there felt wrong to me.

NPCs would die off-screen before I could reach them to rescue them, and anyone I genuinely failed to protect could be revived easily. When I failed an earlier quest that resulted in the death of an NPC, the game just revived them automatically for a later quest.

I feel like Baldur's Gate 3, Elden Ring, Zelda, and Monster Hunter do a much better job at executing story / consequences, difficulty, interactivity, and combat, leaving Dragon's Dogma only with its pawn system to carry it.

Great write up! I've been feeling a key part of the microtransactions furor is the other way modern game design has trained players. We've had years of games that do intentionally pair hostile game design with microtransactions (gachas, looters, mobile boosters, battle passes), and so the presence of both of these things immediately leads to a suspicion there's a scam at play. The audience is primed to see inconvenience not just as bad design, but explicitly predatory. A game like DD2, where the link between hostile design and mtx is more nebulously present if at all, seems impossible to conceive for people.

I had to stop playing FFXIV because that game started to feel like it had no friction at all. I wasn't really interested in DD2 (and ignorant of all the discourse), but reading this has made me want to play it.

I really enjoyed reading this, thanks Harper!

A very reasonable stance I think.

I am certainly having a blast playing the game, but I know I had to first get over the friction of the first game. You'd think people would be up for it a bit more after the rise of the souls series but I guess that was all talk for these 'gamers'.

Over here wandering around in the middle of no where and finding a second funny riddle gameshow shrine, where I am guessing the show host shows up after you do the first one.

Now of course I have my own critiques but they are mostly soft minor things. With a side of "Hm, not having a defensive move cancel feels iffy and causes me to play like an absolute janky monster", for example the mystic spearhand is just immunity shield uptime simulator. I also think some hitboxes are strange for trying to predict when to parry as fighter. And just simple melee combo wise, if I had somewhere between this and MH level combos on my two attack buttons, that'd be lovely.

Dragon's Dogma is a story factory whose various textures create unprecedented triumphs and memorable failure. a fair few

Either the rest of a sentence got lost, or a fragment of a discarded sentence survived deletion. Based on the following, one sentence paragraph, I think maybe more than once sentence got lost.

Good read, and I find myself wondering why I am finding DD2's systems so easy to engage with, while I have fairly consistently bounced off Souls games. There's a valid comparison there, sure, about how the souls games uncompromisingly make you engage with its systems. But I think the trouble I have with them is that the basic things that it's asking me to do at a high level in Souls games, the flow of the fights themselves, and the degree of precision it demands from me are not something that I have much raw interest in gaining mastery over. And that frustrates me because there's so much about the mood of those worlds, and some of the things that are happening mechanically, and the way you explore the worlds that I DO want to engage with but I feel the game won't let me enjoy those bits.

I've previously said that I find the lack of difficulty modes in those games is a detriment. Not only does it present an accessibility issue, but it prevents them from gaining a whole new type of player which is interested in some of what's going on here, but not all of it the bit where they need to develop an ability to read fights well and make moves with deliberate precision. There's certainly a part of the fanbase of those games who would be against adding difficulty modes even though it wouldn't seem to affect their own experience, and there's something that feels vaguely toxic about that. And I mean that in the truer sense of the word in that this sentiment sort of ends up infecting the whole conversation around those games. I am loathe to bring it up most places because I'll get a slew of people telling me I just don't get it - I do get it, and I don't like it.

I admit I still can't really think of a truly good reason that those games shouldn't present difficulty modes. 'The developer doesn't want to, it conflicts with their vision' doesn't quite cut it for me in this case. It still sounds like a cop-out to me.

But. Reading this piece at least makes me want to interrogate this position a little further.

In the context of DD2 I do find your points ring true. I really do think this is a game that knows what it is and shouldn't compromise that vision just to please people. I find these two viewpoints hard to reconcile, and it forces me to at least soften my position on the Souls games. Even if it still frustrates me that I'm unable to enjoy those games which have a lot to like about them. (And I really have tried. I've played Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Dark Souls 2 and Bloodborne before finally acknowledging I probably should stop doing this to myself. Bloodborne got the closest to retaining me.)

I've had situations in DD2 where I've, say, completely wasted an hour because of a domino run of mishaps which end up with me accidentally getting flown away on a gryphon before finally leaping to freedom miles away from where I started, in the wrong direction. But I accept that, and wouldn't have it any other way. The uncompromising friction here feels like it's delivering me adventure in a way that I never felt about souls games (with those I felt like the friction was only ever delivering a challenge over which I needed to develop mastery). But here when I suffer a setback more often than not it's because some absolutely wild shit just happened, and it's very hard to be angry at that.

this is a phenomenal write up thank you.

I know this is a demented take but it feels wild seeing people mad and conspiratorial about the consequences of ignoring a plague...again. Virtually this time.

I love that this little freak of a game exists

https://i.ibb.co/nRLrJbj/PVjncUz.png

We're in another ugly spot ala Gen 7, so this needs reminded.

Frankly all this just makes it even more confusing as to why the MTX are present at all. Creating friction and then offering purchases to ease that friction is a massive red flag, and unless they're completely oblivious, they... had to know that, right? So why is it there? It's the roach on the wedding cake, the baffling own-goal that just begs the question over and over no matter how many times you think about it.

Introducing friction in a world without it was what catapulted Demon's Souls to such massive acclaim, and then that became an entire genre of video games. I guess it would be like if they let you buy just one titanite slab– a confusing decision from any angle.

this is just inside my head but i think itsuno's action games all have this ethos of "earned fun" like you don't get any of the fun combat action for free and that's why it's extra rewarding when you do execute, and why fast travel is pushed to the side and why there aren't clear quest markers etc, and this also ties into like... you're in "real" danger? kinda anyway

and dmc4 & 5 are really like that too

earned fun could be a whole essay honestly, but yeah itsuno is the king