Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

First things first: A major issue is that the pawn rental system currently doesn’t work properly in this version of the game, likely due to a bug that hasn't been addressed by GOG or Capcom. If you're seriously considering buying Dragon’s Dogma, I recommend getting it through Steam, where the rental system works as intended and the relevant bugs have been fixed. Other than that the game is a solid RPG with an amazing open world. The Pawn System is interesting, as you create your own ally that you can lend to other players and it will help them with knowledge aquried during your travels and adventures. This part is working. The broken part is that won't get any Compensation for lending your ally that way, so it's more in the realm of "why bother" getting the pawns monster knowledge up and completing various tasks around the system. The Steam Version works as intended, so if you care about the pawn system it's probably best to buy it there.

Open world RPG with THE best combat, bosses and MAGIC ever presented in a video game. MONSTERS There are many horrific and MASSIVE creatures that you fight in real time and at real scale. Think of shadow of colossus but less restricted. Absolutely one of a kind and EPIC fun and terror. COMBAT is very fluid and the furthest thing from clunky, again as action goes nothing has come close since, you'll love it. MAGIC the first game I ever played where magic felt right. I mean you are magic user with command over mystic energies of the universe. It takes you an eternity to cast a spell and you are vulnerable the whole time but if you manage to unleash your power then the destruction the highest tier spells can bring down is breathtaking. Unfortunately the game is pretty weak in all other respects. The world is pretty lifeless and you wont give a damn about any of the characters save a few. It offers very little in the "open world" sense and your path in the game is obviously very linear. The NPCs and quests are rather boring and the areas you frequent will quickly become non challenges. Truthfully, I enjoyed battling through Bitterblack Isle over and over again and never bothered with the main game much after that. There is no variety to the gameplay. There is a huge variety and of monsters and their AI and scripts are very well developed. Their animations clearly took a great deal of effort. This game could have been one of the best games ever made if they took the combat, monsters, magic and some of the beautiful epic landscapes and coupled it with a deep and immersive game world of options and freedom. Nonetheless if you like RPGs should definitely own Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen. You get many hours of really exciting action out of it. Just dont expect and emotion or immersion.

One of my worst experiences is trying to progress thru the stories when the pawns act like the 3 stooges bouncing around over each other. VERY ANNOYING! They also randomly pick up stuff and trying to figure out where/who has what is trying and tiresome. The mage types also have the annoying habit of useing spells that totally obscure your vision in the middle of battles. Outside of those annoyances, the game is pretty good and has several stages in the story telling. Usually when you take out the main story's protaganist, the game is pretty much over, but with this game, that just the beginning of other story lines. (at least two more). That's rare in games, and very challenging.

Dragon's Dogma is the best action RPG for me, with an emphasis on ACTION. It has many features that modern games still haven't adopted: 1) Deep character customization for the Arisen (player character) and main Pawn (NPC follower) where things like height and weight actually affect stats and gameplay. 2) Engaging vocation (class) system where you can change between classes, and each class plays differently, and is potentially powerful once you get the right abilities and equipment. Fighters need to block and parry attacks with their shield, striders need to dodge and shoot arrows or get close to use knives, and mages need to strategically position themselves to cast slow but potentially devastating spells. And that's just the starting 3 vocations (there's a total of 9 for PCs and 6 for pawns). 3) Visceral combat with the ability to climb and attack large enemies, or pick up and throw small enemies. The controls are ergonomic and intuitive for both KB+M and controllers. 4) A diverse menagerie of mythical enemies including dragons, chimeras, golems, etc. Each enemy requires different strategies. Even regular human enemies can be threatening and use many of the same abilities the player can use. 5) Customize and train your main Pawn, and hire up to 2 additional pawns for your party. You can rent out your pawn or hire other players' pawns (unfortunately this doesn't seem to work without GOG Galaxy, but you can still hire the default pawns). 6) Dark and foreboding setting and story that, while a bit linear, still offers an open world and some interesting choices. While the game doesn't do a good job explaining some systems (the romance system is only vaguely explained, and the stat leveling system is essentially hidden), and traveling the open world can seem repetitive (though you later gain the ability to set your own fast travel points), the experiences of fighting massive beasts and narrowly surviving desperate battles is unmatched.

There are some aspects of this game that I really like and would love to see in more open world RPGs. First and foremost, of course, how you can scale large enemies to attack weak points. Another cool thing is that you can walk across the roofs of the cities. Or that you can have up to three pawns (as opposed to at most 2 companions in Bethesda games). That you can easily switch classes (or vocations as they're called here) is also nice. Other aspects of this game, however, are mediocre at best and downright terrible at worst. The open world itself is passable, but with no mounts, limited fast travel, limited stamina, and frequently respawning mobs, traversal of the world is a chore more than anything else. Even more so since there is a lot of backtracking. Story and side quests and the writing in general are mostly meh, except for the terrible, cringe-inducing Aelinore questline (that you're better off ignoring completely). The very first quest in that questline [i]should[/i] make the arisen an outlaw in Gran Soren for the rest of the game, but apparently the duke magically forgets all about it once the quest is finished. Board quests are the worst kind of fetch quests and escort missions. Yet you're kind of forced to do at least some of the escort missions, because those build your relationship with NPCs. The quest design in general is bad. There are some side quests that provide relevant lore, but become unavailable if the player finishes [i]Lure of the Abyss[/i] before finishing certain other quests. Crafting is passable, but the amount of curatives and crafting materials is insane. Loot is plentiful, but lackluster. There's also the problem that you have only a single save. Bottom line: the game is absolutely worth a try if you like open world RPGs. But I definitely recommend waiting for a discount, and playing with mods that fix the stamina and savegame issues.