Welcome to Dragon’s Dogma! In this demo, you
Thank you for playing the Dragon’s Dogma demo.
Which is about how long the demo is.
I’ve semi-had my eye on Capcom’s upcoming Dragon’s Dogma because its open-world-fantasy style (plus the promise of supposedly cool melee combat from some of the people who brought us Devil May Cry) reminded me a bit of the Souls games, except maybe less bleak and less hard. And say what you will about the Souls games, but the third person fantasy hack-and-slashery is pretty awesome no matter who you are. So I figured, “Hey! Steerpike! Maybe this will be another game similar to that.”
I’d hoped the demo would answer this question, but the demo is eleven seconds long.
In Dragon’s Dogma, there is a dragon. Though they call it a “Wyrm.” And I guess the dragon has a philosophy of some sort. A dogma, if you will. That wasn’t really made clear, but I’m guessing.
I’d love to actually have some impressions about Dragon’s Dogma, but that’s hard because you’ll finish the demo in less time than it takes a trained crew at McDonald’s to whip up a Quarter Pounder meal, stuff it into a bag, and fling it out the drive-through window at your car. The two “quests” included with the demo, along with the character editor, are enough to tell me exactly one thing:
Based on the demo I have no idea if I want to buy this game.
Capcom, that’s the sign of a bad demo. See, some demos – like, say, the Crackdown demo – convinced me utterly that I was going to buy a game I’d hitherto had no interest in whatsoever. Other demos – like, say, the Catherine demo – convinced me utterly that I was NOT going to buy a game I’d been planning to buy. That’s the point of demos. They’re a taste. Like a bite. An amuse-bouche. You eat play them to whet your appetite for the full meal.
What’s with me and all the food metaphors? I must be hungry.
So my impressions are Bad. Not because the demo was bad; it was okay… the controls weren’t very intuitive and the graphics were… meh. Nope, my impressions are bad because the demo didn’t give me time to form any impressions.
Dragon’s Dogma has a fair bit of promise, though some earlier previews warned of shoddy controls and an uncomfortable camera, both of which I did manage to experience in the microseconds between “Push START to begin” and “Push START to exit.”
On the other hand, there was some coolness too. You can clamber up onto larger foes, Shadow of the Colossus-style, and hack away at them while they try to shake you off. And I remain intrigued by the “Pawn” system, which is basically a glorified party-making tool: you create these NPC pawns that fight at your side, but you can also swap them online and level them up in multiplayer.
Controls-wise, I can’t say they’re difficult, just that I’m still used to the Dark Souls controls and Dogma’s aren’t the same. I was displeased to see the number of buttons involved in combo construction, particularly since combos don’t seem to be that much a part of the battle system; more concerning was the game’s camera, which while far from the worst I’ve ever seen seems trammeled by design: the demo’s first nine (of eleven) seconds take place in narrow corridors that don’t seem to suit Dogma’s style. Later on you get to go outside for two seconds to fight a griffin, where the camera seemed more at ease, but the premade archer template suffered at the hands of the controls.
My impressions? I have none. This sad non-demo gave me essentially no information at all. I know about Dragon’s Dogma now exactly what I knew before I played the demo: that it exists, that it involves a dragon with a worldview, and that it’ll be out for finer consoles on May 22.
Send an email to the author of this post at steerpike@tap-repeatedly.com.
I’m getting the distinct impression that you’re implying that the demo is short.
I’m mildly interested in this game, but Capcom has exhibited a lot less awesome lately and a lot more suck-itude.
I only heard about Dragon’s Dogma the evening before you posted this up. I can’t say this has piqued my interest! I’ll be keeping an eye on it though.
I have to be honest here… Either you rushed the crap out of this already quick demo without giving yourself adequate time to feel it out..or you were doing something else entirely,,like eating, while you played this demo. Reason why I say this is because there is a glimpse into a very deep game here offered in the demo that may go unnoticed by overstimulated gamers . Did you take a moment to learn the combos and inventory system or did you just mash throught it? Graphics are tight and clean. controls were a bit sketchy,,and I also have been noticing that folks are saying that the character creation is weak as hell…however there is a lot to be found there. This is like the bastard child of dark souls (color palette), shadow of colossus (climbing dudes) and monster hunter (giant creatures with removale limbs) with equals a delicious elixir of amazingness. And I have played all of the aforementioned. I am not starved for good games either. Methinks your were a bit tough on this demo review..or maybe just hungry. I appreciate your opinions though. Just adding another side. 🙂
Hi Zach,
I wouldn’t say I rushed the crap out of the demo – there’s not much to rush the crap out of. You begin the tutorial/intro section; follow a man and listen to his poor dialogue; attack or get attacked by goblins and harpies, then fight a chimera. Back to menu. You choose the game quest and appear in an open field with your party, immediately attacked by a griffin. Back to menu. You try the character creator. Demo over.
I see elements of the games you mention – Dark Souls, Shadow of the Colossus, etc – but I didn’t see anything in the demo that made Dragon’s Dogma stand out. Is it an RPG? No way to tell, aside from an inventory system. How big is the world? No way to tell. How much combat customization is available? No way to tell. Are those big monsters infrequent setpieces or common occurrences? No way to tell. And what’s with the seaming and tearing so evident during gameplay?
In all this is a game that would have benefitted much more from the 30-minutes-of-play (or even an hour, unless they have a length issue to conceal) that let the curious really explore a bit. As is I saw extremely brief, extrememly choreographed snapshots of play with no context. I’m not saying the game’s going to be bad; I’m saying the demo was in a position to sell me completely and it didn’t. As such Dragon’s Dogma is off my “purchase” list until I read reviews from sources I trust.
I think maybe SP just reloaded the demo without realizing it because he’d gotten used to dying so quickly in Dark Souls.
This game is terrible; the game itself makes the exact opposite mistake as the demo, in that it takes forever to wind up to everything, and just sort of assumes you want to hang around in their uninteresting and almost totally inanimate village. No charm, no dynamic events or even animations that would imply a lively place, and then you wander out into the countryside with “pawns” who are basically your minders. They know what quest you’re supposed to be on, and it takes great effort to drag them into side paths, which you’ll inevitably do because of how annoying their urging is. This only leads to the game being longer.
Monster fighting is sparse but still pretty fun, and I seem to remember combat being passable, but the structure around it is the most pedestrian and uninspired of jrpgs.
I agree 100% Josh. I did wind up buying Dragon’s Dogma despite my concerns above, and found it to be very… plain. Graphics okay, monster fighting okay, a lot of potential but I put in 20 hours or so and realized I just wasn’t having any fun playing. I consider this a missed opportunity because I think it could have been a lot better than it actually was.
To underscore what you and I are agreeing on here: I had completely forgotten Dragon’s Dogma existed at all until your comment popped up for moderation. How’s that for utterly failing to make an impact? 🙂
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