I've made a wiki article on Dragon's Dogma, so you can more easily expect what to find in the game. The info is nicely compacted in one single post.
Dragon's Dogma - Ryonani | リョナニー
P.S.: I managed to get five wolves feast on Arisen while she's on the ground.
P.P.S.: Making 23 minute DD ryona video.
Review by SplitRyona: (moved here from wiki article)
About the game:
Dragon's Dogma is a newcomer into the field of action RPGs, and surprisingly it was made by Capcom. But how does the game uphold its entry onto the scene? There are good things and there are bad things. On the first glance it plays very much like Elder Scrolls game, or Fallout game, but with enough differences to see DD's freshness.
Story:
You start out as a fisherman in the village of Cassardis, which is attacked by the dragon. Foolishly, our fisherman decides to be a hero, grabs a sword and tries taking the dragon head on. Resistance is futile and dragon knocks your hero to the ground with ease, and in the process takes hero's heart as well. Thought to be dead? Think again, for you become an Arisen, the chosen one to slay the dragon. Thus begins your journey in the worls of Gransys...
Gameplay:
After initial scenes you get to choose between three primary vocations: Fighter for primary in melee, Strider for primary in range attacks, and Mage for primary in magic attacks. When you reach Gran Soren about 10 gameplay hours later, you can change your primary vocation into one of six secondary vocations, which are stronger versions or hybrids. For example, upgraded vocation of Strider would be Ranger, and a hybrid vocation of Fighter and Strider is Assassin (can use primary and secondary weapons of both classes). Your main pawn is built similarly like your hero, and you get to shape him/her when you reach Pawn encampment... say about 2 hours in the game. Two support pawns cannot be built from scratch.
Defeating foes gives you EXP and Discipline pts, while completing quests also awards cash. EXP is used to reach next level (max is 200) - upon reaching a level your character gets small boost to HP, Stamina, Physical attack and defense, and Magical attack and defense. There are no MPs for magical spells and skills, instead you use Stamina for that. Discipline pts are used to buy new skills, which become available for purchase as your vocation level increases. You also need to pay small amount of Discipline pts when you're switching vocations. You cannot switch vocations of two support pawns nor provide them with additional skills.
Unlike Elder Scrolls, Fallout and similar, DD is much more oriented into action part of combat. Forget simply hacking away at enemies in Skyrim, here you will not do much good with that. Amount of skills present, variety of vocations and different enemies (some of which are BIG) will provide tons of fun for players who seek exhilarating and challenging combat.
You can climb on many of the huge enemies in order to reach their weak spots (climbing uses Stamina), and this is sometimes the preferred way of taking the enemies on. It's also not advisable to just randomly attack enemies, but consider their weaknesses - for example, Griffin is a pain to defeat because it constantly flies around. A simple remedy for that is to target its wings and burn them away - now it cannot fly.
Music:
Here's a mixed bag - most of the time you'll be traveling the country, your partner will be just the sound of wildlife. Rarely did I hear a more lengthy music score play. But when you fall into battle, especially with big enemies... oh boy, you're in for a treat. The music gets your blood pumping for that epic battle you're waiting for.
Graphics:
IMO this game has the most beautifully made overworld I've seen in a game for this genre - lots of trees, bushes, grass etc. I especially like how grassblades bend with the wind blowing around. Towns are a bit of disappointment, but I'll live with it. Enemies are made with attention to details as well.
Negative points about the game:
- Using old language when conversing with characters
- Small % of the map is used
- There is no fast travel until late game*
- Small amount of different enemies**
- Weight system
- Micromanagement of items, vocations, skills and pawns (you stand little or no chance of victory against foes if you don't have correct combinations)
- No lock on (well that may be just me, but I'd really appreciate the lock on function
- No lore (that means no books you can read through)
- Camera is problematic, especially if you're climbing big enemies to reach their weaknesses
- Pawn chatter when traveling (please, just shut the **** up)
- While you can access your pawns' items, you cannot use an item from pawn's inventory on the pawn... WTF?
* Late in the game you'll get a quest Griffin's Bane. If you don't manage to kill Griffin during your first encounter, it'll flee to Bluemoon Tower. On top of that tower you can find Portcrystal, a reusable item which you can plant anywhere (except inside the dungeon) and then use ferrycrystal to warp to that Portcrystal. During the course of main game you only find one Portcrystal, but in New Game+ you can buy infinite amounts of them from a specific shop for 300K cash. You can have up to 10 Portcrystals planted on the map.
** Wolf family: Wolf, Direwolf, Hellhound
Harpy family: Harpy, Snow Harpy, Succubus, Gargoyle
Saurian family: Saurian, Sulfur Saurian, Geo Saurian, Saurian Sage
Goblin family: Goblin, Hobgoblin, Grimgoblin
Undead family: Zombie, Undead Warrior, Stout Undead, Giant Zombie
Skeleton family: Skeleton, Skeleton Knight, Skeleton Lord, Skeleton Mage, Skeleton Sorcerer
Floating undead family: Wight, Lich
Ghost family: Phantom, Phantasm, Specter
Eyeball family: Vile Eye
Bigass enemies: Cyclops, Ogre, Chimera, Gorchimera, Golem, Metal Golem, Griffin, Cockatrice, Hydra, Archydra, Evil Eye, Drake, Wyvern, Wyrm, Dragon, Ur Dragon
Positive points about the game:
- Online pawn system is the best I've ever seen. While you're not playing the game, other people can hire your main pawn and include him/her for quests in areas you haven't yet been to. When you boot the game again, your main pawn comes back with the knowledge of those areas, enemies and quests and can help you complete them more efficiently once you get to them. Furthermore, if your main pawn does well, he/she can come back with gifts from previous player.
- Gifting items to anybody makes them like you, while hitting them makes them dislike you. You can romance a fair amount of NPCs in the game, though unfortunately you don't get to see any smokin' hot action like in Dragon Age.
- Absolutely great soundtrack.
- When you're in the rift, you can search for pawns that will benefit you with a great search system. So you need a female Magic Knight with holy and curative magics? No problem, just check necessary boxes and the game will conjure one up for you.
- Absolute satisfaction when you take down a big foe, after you found its weakness, complete with victory fanfare.
- Great combat system with almost limitless potential on how to take on enemies.
