Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

I'm always on the lookout for interesting RPGs and I briefly played Dragon's Dogma when it came out. This is a Japanese RPG and while it is a good (bordering on great) game there are a few things you need to watch out for. Firstly, the inevitable very lengthy introductory phase which seems to be something many Japanese RPGs have in common. The real meat of the game doesn't really get cooking for a few hours. Secondly, the battles can be brutal so be aware of that and adjust the difficulty as needed. Also, this game has one thing I find very annoying which is why I knocked a star off my review. It has a mechanism that stops you swimming. This is something I've always found irksome in games. I Leaving that aside I particularly like the pawn system and the customization available to the player regarding characters. However, the UI is a little bit clunky and having the ability to make lamps accessible via a hot key would be great. Overall though it's a solid interesting title and well worth the pice of admission.

It's an older game, but with that in mind the visuals are pretty good. I could use a little less bloom or the ability to change the levels, but I like the party system. This is the first action RPG game I've played where you could really customize the party's gear and how they acted in combat. It helps a lot that the non-player party AI was decent. My healer healed me. My mage struck lighting. My archer shot stuff. They acted like mid players instead of beginner trash. Some of the side quests are weird and SUPER random which is why it didn't get 5 stars. But overall, very good game. When I get through it I'll be moving on to Dragon's Dogma 2.

The game itself hast got a large potential to not become forgotten. There are many aspects that need to be improved of course but I think Capcom made a great work. We cannot forget that this is a only a remake of a 2011 game.

Just finished it. Wow, this game is really something. Pros: - Customization of your character. From appearance to various armors. + You can install mods! - Rather interesting main story. Not without some cliches, but still good. - Big world to explore. - Interesting classes and sub-classes. I've played as warrior, then changed vocation to Mystic Knight. - Boss battles. If you pick certain classes, you will be able to climb on them :D Cons: - No mounts. At first, you'll need to run and backtrack a lot. But once you'll get some Port Crystals, it won't be such a problem. - A lot of cool looking armor is completely useless (mainly it's about DLC armors). By the time when you'll get enough money to buy it, it will have really low stats comparing to what you'll be wearing. - If you play as a strictly melee character without the ability to climb on bosses, some of the bossfights will be really hard/impossible to complete. You can fix that by changing your vocation or skillset. - Some locations are reused a few times which is not really cool. But that's not a big deal, really. - Sometimes pawns behaviour is really strange. Overall, this is a good game. It has its own bad sides, but it's good nevertheless. There's not enough games like that on PC, so I recommend it.

This one is 4 and a half stars, really. And that's only because details like the chests in baffling areas and the respawning of monsters in the exact same spots - even bosses - feel very game-y, and the reasons for why you can't swim (there's this water monster that renders you unconscious and sends you back to shore) or why most of the hub city is empty and has houses that can't be entered (the dragon has people scared) feel a little too much like cover-up excuses. Also, sending you on a repetitive fetch-and-collect quest on the verge of finishing the game is frankly in rather bad taste. But that can hardly be held against the game, really, when faced with the sheer wealth of options, fun and adventuring it provides. Not a single crash or glitch to be seen, no bugs I could find, a heart-pounding soundtrack, a very interesting take on ye-olde-dragon-rises-up-to-wreak-havoc trope, and combat the likes of which you won't find in any other RPG, action or otherwise. All this in a fairly large world that beckons you to explore, practically begging you to try out the myriad of build options in it. This was a home run by Capcom, and a flawless console-to-PC port to boot. The one spoiler-free thing I can point out to those who will try this out for the first time is: Make sure you've already done everything you wanted to in the world before you go face the dragon. Things get irrevocably changed once you do.