Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

This game always ramps up the challenge. Whenever you hit a plateau, this game hits you with a new monster to defeat. If you're looking for an action RPG, get this game. Don't worry about min-maxing or making mistakes on your first playthrough, just enjoy the game.... The Good -Fantastic gameplay; as good or better as any monster hunter game. -Beautiful word to explore. -Great challenge, not like dark souls but still punishing like a japanese game. Make it as challenging as you like. -Pawn system and final boss challenge is fun -Ability to play as you want (Tank, Mage, Rogue, Balanced, Battlemage) and to explore classes -The Sorcerer Spells Are a Visual Masterpiece -Combat has ''weight''; you will ''feel'' your weapon type -So much content, so many challenges, its crazy! The Bad -Musical score is meh, Story is meh -Inventory Management absolutely sucks....get the Fighter Perk at level 5 to remedy this -Has a certain learning curve, you can't just get every upgrade -Escort quests are way too difficult, I had to cheese them The reviews stating the pawn system doesn't work are older....The pawn system works fine, I've hired from other players. If you're one the fence about this, don't put it off, its totally worth it at any price. The start is fun, the middle is fun, The end is fun. Get it and enjoy the ride! I really hope there's a sequel!

The version sold on GOG in incomplete. The multiplayer features do not work as intended. The game also has a newer patch released on other platforms (including graphical patch) that is not present in the GOG version.

The AI in this game for your companion Pawns is fantastic. There's probably some tricks and goofs, but I've seldom played a game where the allies actually felt like companions, gathering things for you, targeting enemies you can't fight at the moment, buffing you, healing you, and leveling up and gathering new equipment on your journey. I'm also in the camp that I enjoy their banter and advice. As they travel and see you do things they will start to remark on nearby loot and even remind you of quest details if you're lost. This game is hack and slash fun with a deep layer of roleplaying adventure: lots of people to talk to, lots of side quests that need a surprising amount of thought on your part. There's even some parkour, allowing for scaling of cliffs and buildings for secrets and finding a vantage against enemies. Speaking of climbing, you can latch onto enemies and climb them too looking for weak spots. Tired of the poisonous tail of an enemy? Climb on and cut it off. The camera goes crazy during these sections and there's clipping galore, but I've never had any hard crashes or out of bound issues so I'm not too concerned. The game is fully voice acted, fully scored, with some meaty sound effects. It's very atmospheric too with day and night cycles with an actual rising and setting sun. The one thing you can't do is swim. There's an in-game explanation anyway for why and you never feel it's a great loss. Nothing feels at a loss here. The plot is a nice riff on classic fantasy concepts: everything slightly askew enough to be interesting, from goblins to dragons. You're in for the long haul, fair warning. Buying new gear, upgrading favored gear, outfitting pawns, traveling to an island labyrinth at higher levels. Great fun, very dynamic, a sometimes wonky camera doesn't sink this ship.

This game was gifted to me on steam by a friend. When i played the game the first i got addicted to it not gonna lie. When i've finished the game at 100% (achievements included) i brought the GOG version as well. Which i did 100% achievements too. Not much i can criticize.. Pros - Awesome experience - Good OST - Variety of gameplay (9 vocations and 6 for your pawns) - Multiple endings - 100h average to complete at 100% - NG+ Cons - No multiple save slots - GOG version is missing two patches from the steam version - Online is bugged (Capcom need to look into it) However i recommand at 100% Use this mod to fix the game https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonsdogma/mods/685

A lot of people moaning about DD's graphics, the Devs were hindered by the console infrastructure of the time, DD arrived late in the console life-cycle and to say the hardware was straining under the game's weight is an understatement. Given that the Developers are Japanese the Console market is far larger than the PC in that particular territory so it's understandable why it was developed with mass appeal in mind. Regardless, we got a clunky (control-wise) PC port with few upgrades. You don't buy DD for it's graphics or even it's story necessarily, it's more for the experience. This isn't a game designed to be convenient (see the fast travel method for example) but to my mind that's one of the game's great strengths. The combat, vocation system and environmental traversal are all sublime IMO. I personally love the gear system too. The intricacies of the merchants and some of the more obtuse dialogue delivered by the NPCs (not in the bland, meandering Dark Souls manner but more through implication) is genuinely interesting. It's just a shame the story is so underdeveloped. This is a Japanese interpretation of Western fantasy and that's what makes it fascinating, some of the little quirks are just hilariously baffling (aught aught aught aught). The Pawn system is just brilliant (it's broken ATM, online issues) but there are offline Pawns which can be used which essentially provide the gist of the Developer's intention. I just hope that the forthcoming sequel is worthy of the name, it certainly looks promising. On a side note, I suspect those who dislike the game are either Skyrim/Souls-fanboys or those who want a shiny otherwise hollow game. DD is a flawed masterpiece and is deserving of it's revered status.