The pawn chatter. Maybe it's an unpopular opinion, but I do love how they interact with each other. The cities are very well made, IMO, and the character creator is really something else.
Also, fuck harpies.
I miss the (often silly) discussion of enemies and tactics.
"Wolves hunt in packs", "THE TAIL IS SEVERED" and "living bones that move on their own" are all absent.
tbh the main one I miss is how often pawns would call out elemental resists. It still happens sometimes but I swear that was the first word out of their mouths in 1 is telling you what they were weak to. what are goblins weak to someone tell me please
Yeaaah, the different vocations thing is repeated too often, sadly. And boy is it annoying when my pawn says she knows of a cave I haven’t explored, I tell her to Go!, and then a guest pawn jumps on the opportunity to lead me to the quest location, not the cave, overriding my pawn. I need to see if I can unselect the quests so nothing is on the map…
My pawn will not shut up about being a mage previously. It’s all she talks about. She has all vocations maxed except archer but only talks about being a mage.
I love some of the conversations they have with each other. My guest fighter pawn fell off the golem we were fighting because he had run out of stamina.
My main pawn - mage - stopped her spell to run over and restore his stamina so he could move out of the way of the golem's next attack.
As he got out of the way he said, "I never would have thought to be in *your* debt."
My mage pawn took it in stride and said, "Never fret! We all have our moments."
I was like 🥺
the pawn banter bettwen themself is great sometimes
my pawn is always very tactical and cautious, i hired a Warrior once that had a very brash personality
the warrior got torched in a fight and my pawn said "see? thats what happens if you are careless!"
and the warrior answered with "careless??? its called taking the initiative!"
My fav so far is when I check a shop inventory without buying anything and a pawn goes “Not buying aught today, Arisen?” And my pawn *instantly* snaps back with “the Arisen is ever prudent in the application of coin!” It’s like she has to tell them I’m not broke lol
I had one where my pawn ran out of stamina doing that archer skill that drains it all. Other pawn ran over and was like ‘wtf are you doing?’ And my pawn just said she was ‘in the moment’ lmao
This is my favourite new feature by far, when I first saw it I was so inexplicably happy, I cant explain it. It has absolutely no impact on gameplay but it gives that little extra bit of immersion that keeps the endless encounters feeling fun when you get to celebrate with your team.
I wish there was more of those little moments of camaraderie from a hard-fought battle. Something like extending an arm to help a pawn up from the ground.
They do that sometimes, if they run out of stamina you can go to them and pat them on the back like they do you. Same with each other. I've seen them help each other up too.
Lol the first few times I fell my pawn just stood there staring at me. When finally he decided "ok this mother fucker keeps falling im gonna have to start catching him."
Fromsofts version of fantasy is actually quite practical; the thing that defines their style (IMHO) is how they handle scale, as they tend to go for larger than human scales for their structures, mostly due to how their stories focus on godly creatures and characters.
There's also a very weird sense of absurd, often slapstick humor present in their works. The Ringed Finger weapon in Elden Ring *(A massive finger on a stick which you can use to finger flick enemies)* for example, its played straight, whereas it'd be considered a joke weapon in any other game. The Jar Helmet, which is a pot on the head. Or, that one log trap in Bloodborne that gets basically everyone the first time around. The funny bloodsplats that you look at, telling yourself *"Hah, how dumb can you be to walk off there by accident"* only to do it a few trips later. It compliments their world well in an extremely odd way, which I struggle to put words to describe properly.
Radahn's horse is one example of this too. And it works, even played straight, when you have gotten as much buy in and effort from the player as is required to get far in a FS game. The difficulty and cohesion of their worlds makes these moments work really well. Too many devs try to ape this and fail because they're not willing to ask as much of the player. The more you ask the player to put in - in a way that's enjoyable and interesting - the more you can challenge their assumptions and show them weird shit.
TBH a part of that is that in Demon Souls people had issues seeing the enemies that were the same height as the player while they were blocked by the player.
The easy solution was to make the basic enemies taller.
(That and size is an easy way to visualize difficulty)
It really contributes to the theme of "dipshit beef jerky zombie beats the shit out of a whole pantheon" with how imposing the structures are. I forgot his name, but that giant dead dragon over Leyndell is so cool. And all the holes in the walls of Stormveil, and the huge walls surrounding Leyndell
And I really hope we get at least one more giant boss in the DLC. Only "huge" bosses I can think of are Ancient Dragon, Fire Giant, Rykard, and Dragon God. Oh, and Ceaseless Discharge (poor guy)
By "weird" you mean FF inherently has an anime-centric style to its aesthetics. Hell even FFXVI does despite it leaning into realism harder than any previous game
It's still overdesigned fantasy armor but the artstyle, lines, and colour palette trick your brain into thinking it's not.
For the record, this is fine, I like the armor overall, but let me show you what I mean.
[This](https://imgur.com/LluUtBn) in particular is a decent example, I think. The overall structure is fairly simple in terms of plate armor.
The gambeson and trousers are pretty much perfect, no complaints there. In fact from my limited knowledge, MOST of the armor is fine.
However, this, IMO, is titty armor. More acceptable titty armor, but titty armor all the same.
That stomach plate, called a plackart IRL, is always supposed to be accompanied by a breastplate, either connected to the plackart via a strap, or rivets. This here in the game seems to be done either to accentuate the chest, show off the under-armor, simply because it looks cool (I'm hoping it's this), or some combination of the reasons.
Now, if you please, give the shoulders a good look and I'm sure you can work out why they'd be absolutely horrible in terms of practicality.
Aside from the combat being a blast, I'd say love the ambience and atmosphere of the game. It's kinda hard to describe but when you're out in the wild, making camp, taking in scenery and stumbling into big monsters it has this immersive quality I don't get in most open world games.
I also find the progression systems addicting, as they were in DD1. Getting gold always feels rewarding since the economy is quite demanding, so new gear always feels nice to get.
Building up your arisen with different augments and skills is nice, and that little dopamine hit when you rest at an inn and see your pawn being hired, after making the effort to make their build good.
It's such a weird (in a good way) and unique game. I love it for that.
The demanding economy is one of my favorite parts. In so many other games you're super rich super fast, but every gold feels like it matters so far in this game. It's also a blessing that vendors have unlimited gold.
I'm avoiding hiring pawns with gold rewards for their quests because I don't want to break that feeling.
I romanced Wilhelmina first and then Ulrika later on during my journey doing some quest in Batahal after going back to her village she stays at. The game seems to allow me to be with both so yeah.
The general flow of combat remains great.
Pawns interjections are great and sometimes even funny, calling out other journeys they have had with other Arisen.
MAJOR SPOILERS >!Seeing the ruins of Gran Soren made me feel...things.!<
Some of the organic enemy interactions are really good.
Like I needed to farm a few Liches to upgrade something, but I got to a Lich spawn too early. There was a Cyclops there, so why not?
And then the Lich reanimated the Cyclops during our fight! It didn't really do anything, but it's cool that it can happen!
Exploring, I've not experienced this level of distracted since Skyrim. So many tucked away places that can be so easily missed, all unique spaces with different challenges.
And on each foray, just taking into the ambience as we navigate woodlands or walk in the shadow of a canyon. Settling down to camp by the riverside looking out at the flickering lights of a town. The game is full of beautiful moments thanks to a world crafted with care and intention evident throughout. The respect for scale really gives the gameworld a sense of place and realism.
I keep calling this game a meditative experience. The more I've played, the slower the pace has gotten. In the storytelling there's a serious issue presented but non of the sense of imminent urgency that causes dissonance in other open world games. This is exemplified in the dragonforged response to our asking where the dragon is; we don't need seek the dragon, it will find us when the time comes. The dragon is our big problem and the game tells us not to stress it.
This. Leaving a cave and realizing you're in uncharted territory and it's night time. You forgot to restock on lantern oil. You have one camping kit and suddenly you're fighting two cyclops with armor in the dark, who over power you and take down 2 pawns. At 60% hp it's hopeless so you run into the darkness, hoping to find salvation when suddenly you find a pawn fighting some weak goblins. You help them kill them off and immediately hire them to help you hopefully make it to a rift stone or camp site. You swear you'll never leave town without adequate supplies again (although you probably will). A sense of relief as you see the lights of a campfire nearby.
This game is incredible for these organic moments.
Yeah, this is one of the strengths of no on demand fast travel. I remember the moment when I was exploring somewhere in Vermund, I stumble into some kind of nest and it's a long way down. I use my shield to negate the fall damage. And then Bam! Griffin just swoop back to its nest. It was around dusk, shit goes flying everywhere, my pawn stuck on the ledge, I was alone because they're all afraid to jump down. I keep asking them to gather, so they take the long way to down, it felt like eternal. The fight goes on until midnight, and once we felled the Griffin, we just realized that the only way to get out from there is through the spookiest shit in this game. It was awesome.
This is why I keep coming back to it, even as I understand pretty much every complaint about the game and agree with most. The game is heavily flawed, but it has a strong foundation that we recognize. I think one step to making it more involved would be to re-add the quest board and rewards, and more unique items and equipment you can’t buy in the shops. Something to give exploration just a little more oomph.
Pawn Quests are actually genius, I just hope they expand it as a feature in the future. Being able to give my own quests for other players to pursue when they hire my pawn is so fun, and also ticking off the boxes for pawns I hire as well.
Also there's a Rifstone called Rifstone of Potential that links you with pawns who haven't been hired by anyone yet. Thinking about players not getting to experience a crucial part of the system makes me so fucking sad so I pretty exclusively hire from there. Their quests are the basic "travel for a day/night" for a shard and honestly that's fucking genius because you have a solid incentive to include players who haven't been included so far.
It really reminds me of Skyrim and FFXV in all the best ways, the exploration of Skyrim and the emergent gameplay chaos, and then the camaraderie of FFXV. I miss the Chocobros. They got me through a rough time.
People keep getting mad about how repetitive the journey can feel, without realizing they're supposed to slow down and enjoy the world and the quiet moments as much as the thrill of combat.
Really gives me BOTW and Death Stranding vibes, just exploring, taking in the sights. Very mediative and chill, lonely. I love these kind of open world games.
DS is a really good comparison because people got mad that it was the goth manbun's answer to what mail looks like in the apocalypse, and that's always made me laugh because, like, bro, this game NEVER sold itself as anything other than what it was. You're just mad because you didn't do your research or pay attention to the marketing. I knew exactly what I was getting then and now.
Agree with you guys.
It just isnt your typical action packed modern RPG that encourages you to run though a tick sheet. Youre supposed to savour moments.
the game absolutely has shortcomings and they’re exacerbated if youre not inclined to the exact type of game that this is.
Elden Ring is a fantastic game and FS managed to strike a balance between their esoteric style and a more palatable commercial style. It feels like DD2 leaned even harder into its weirdness.
I love the game and more content would absolutely be welcomes but thats ALL it really needs imo. More enemies; quests; areas and im happy. The core style is exactly what i wanted.
This and Death Stranding give me the best backpacking vibes. I really feel like there are some outdoorsy individuals on the dev team. Each camp feels like a real place I'd set up camp. One of my favorites is right before the ancient battleground.
I agree, I think this game has by far the best map exploration feel to it. I hope a future dlc brings some more biomes with similar scale. Would love to explore a large snowy region.
Started today. Exploring is fun. Combat is good. For me, strong dd1 vibes, what I like. And, I know it might be a negative, but for me, it's a part that is just dragons dogma, I could fail quests. That's not a bad mechanic.
Honestly I was always put off by being able to miss out on parts of DD1 if you didn't an easily missable quest. When I hear DD2 would have similar i was a bit hesitant.
Maybe it's because it's my first playthrough and so I'm not aware of what I've missed, but it actually hasn't bothered me. I've been taking most quests one or two at a time, rather than filling up my quest journal with loads and never doing them.
It's just FOMO. If you don't know you're missing something then you just keep enjoying yourself, and that's part of the magic of the game imo. I haven't been using guides (with one exception, the finders token had me looking up seeker token locations around the border encampment. The guides didn't even have the first one I found, which is on top of the blacksmith hut at the border encampment) and the only thing I *don't like* about this game is that I want so much more of it.
DD2 has the best soft-lock melee combat I've ever played.
I'm the type who gets frustrated by games like Assassin's Creed, Batman:Arkham Whatever, and Witcher 3 because of how they wrest away control of your character, making it skate around, use varying animations from the same input, and target foes you didn't intend. Therefore I much prefer the static, 1 to 1 controls of games like Monster Hunter or Dark Souls. Your "rigid" is my "tight". Your "unhelpful" is my "reliable".
But DD2 gets it right. It helps with positioning without being skatey. It does different animations but all within acceptable variance. And it virtually always goes for my intended target, or at least defaults to the direction I input. It even angles attacks pretty dramatically; I was most impressed when smashing skeleton skulls as they rolled around with my *daggers* no problem!
100% if you’ve played the new god of war Kratos teleports to enemies whenever you attack them, positioning is not something that you have to think about in combat.
In DD2 I was fighting a golem from the ground with my warrior and I noticed how he would subtly do his strings of attacks but aim it just high enough to hit the medallions, but it all felt really organic.
The pawn system is very interesting and I hope other RPGs steal the idea. It helps the world feel more alive and it's fun to see how they interact with each other and what kind of comments and gear they come back with from their adventures.
Seeing as the pawn system was praised and been around since 2013 I don’t think any RPGs are looking to take it anytime soon lol
That said we might see something inspired by it, like pawns to me feel like an evolution of the community notes in the souls games - they’re mostly helpful and sometimes goofy reminders that other people actually play the game
My dream rpg would somehow combine the pawn system with the shadow of mordor nemesis system. It’s cant happen because wb are scum but still a man can dream.
I'm hoping with this and the NPC hunters added to MH Rise Sunbreak that MH Wilds takes it a few steps more. Some AI hunters you can change the gear on etc.
Rastas from MHFrontier (an online game based on MH2, already ended) revival would def be cool. They brought back Espinas, a MHFrontier monster. Don't see why they can't do that!
Tbf, you only get access to the Magick Archer after a quest that has an air of urgency and very quickly snowballs to the end of the game if you’re not careful
Just found my way to the sphinx last night and it was such a journey.
I literally turned down the path thinking "Ill just see whats up this way and then go to bed". Woops. Stayed up another hour.
I had the exact same experience. Literally just saw some random path and thought “I wonder where this leads”. Completed some random quest I stumbled upon. After that quest I spotted a cave entrance. I found the cave I’m like “fuck I need to offload some items, my entire party is heavy but I’ll see where this cave ends real quick” then another hour and I’m like oh shit I wasn’t expecting this.
Top notch exploration
I really liked some of the side quests, some had quite shocking outcomes (especially the one in battahl). Minmaxing fashion and armor stats. Combat feels good and has weight too it. Vocations all feel unique and add their own element to combat too. The first time you kill new monsters is also very fun
Are you talking about the ripened quince one? I listened to his wife and daughter bc I had the feeling something bad would happen if I did what he wanted me to.
I really like how pawns will sometimes interject after quests (like that one especially) to the effect of
"so that's what happens when you [do X], my master [did Y] and the result was... very different"
I love the inclusion of having to learn the language and the way it's implemented is exactly right. Talking to the shops and inn keepers feels exactly like trying to get basic services at a shop in a foreign country where you don't understand the language. I think I get what I'm looking at, but I don't know for sure.
Warrior is so good imo. I like it in the first game but I hated how they held weapons and that I had to jump cancel literally everything. AND they were slow
Now they're weighty(which is different) perfect timing makes you attack faster and harder. They carry their weapons like badasses. I can shoulder check to cancel recovery frames. I CAN COUNTER/BLOCK if I don't time it correctly. Warrior is all I ever wanted it to be and more. Thank you for reading all that you are beautiful and deserve a hug.
Honestly warrior was the most fun class so far. I went Fighter-Archer-Warrior-Thief-Trickster(which I'm still at right now) and once I've gone through each one as I can, I'll be going back to warrior. It's just so fun, I love everything about how it works. I just wish I could use more of the skills because so many are good. Though I still haven't been able to come to grips with the skill that gets faster each attack, I never seem to know when to hit the buttons.
Right after your attack lands on the enemy hit the button again. To me it just feels like music.(I'm a musician I just feel timing😂) I haven't found trickster yet I wanna try it just to say I did but I might stick to warrior forever
Well then that explains why I couldn't make it work, I was trying to figure out the timing by attacking the air.
I guess I need to find an enemy that will actually survive long enough to try it on. Cheers!
I'm finding Trickster to be completely the opposite of how I like to play, I know it can do interesting things it's just that none of it appeals to me. I prefer to be frontline attacker, or ranged attacker. A pure CC/support doesn't really suit me.
Regardless, trickster is in Battahl, if you head north of Bakbattahl you should find it.
I love the world, the combat, interacting with npcs. I love creating my pawn and journeying with them. I love being the Arisen again. I love lots of parts, I loved the Vernworth section with all the things to do in the city. It's my favorite part of the game. I just love feeling like I'm a part of the world and game. 😌
Magick archer, thief, and mystic spearhand are some of the most fun I've had in a game with classes in a long time. There are complaints but combat gameplay is a real reminder of the kind of stuff capcom publishes. It just feels really fun and fluid no matter the class.
Oh my god, base archer has felt the best for me thus far and I was NOT expecting that. Being able to careful AND auto aim is fucking genius and keeps things engaging. I can take time to line my shots or I can just focus on pelting with arrows. It's so good. Thief too.
https://preview.redd.it/ac38ehau36rc1.jpeg?width=3840&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7332032395bbeb1ae7761dd4dfd65611591bd17
being able to make this sexy beast with this outfit
Tbh most of it. The world, the combat, even the story. (At least the true ending)
I think the game needed about 1 more year in the oven, but I really really liked it.
I haven’t enjoyed an open world ‘sandbox’ this much since Red Dead 2, and DD2 is def the best open world since Elden Ring, but for very different reasons.
The monster animations and design are great. The materials and textures are wild. That gross nappy hair! I love it!
Also really love how the game not only has you come across character pawns in the world, but other (randomly i think) generated adventure parties filled with total weirdos who will also jump into battle with you from time to time. Really makes the world feel alive.
Also the armor designs are sick.
And the landscapes are beautiful.
Last night my crew encountered a troll just after passing another adventurer party and it was awesome to be a part of an 8 on 1 battle to bring the troll down!
I turned training your pawns into a science in the first game. I taught my pawn to use an exploit.
So the pawn AI depth in this game has been a wonderful thing to experiment with
What all have you noticed this time around? I don't really notice as much because I'm trying to stay alive so I'd love to know what you've observed about them. There's so much I don't know about their capabilities.
Everytime that you do something "new" the pawn will say that they learned a new tactic. This can range from a lot of things and it will depend on their inclination on how they use that said tactic.
For example I learned that you can do the basic attack with the staff while levitating. So then when my pawn went to mage she was jumping off of rocks to get huge height advantages and just reigning down fire. When I hired new mages/sorcerers they wouldn't do that sort of tactic. Then after spending some time in fights with us you would see the hired pawn start blasting while levitating.
So your main pawn is like an imprint of you. They will play the most like you do. Then when they learn new stuff from other parties then they will incorporate it in the way that "you" would and then put it through the inclination filter.
Or at least that is how I think that they are working from my observations. In the first game you could match your pawn's vocation and skills and they would basically record how you play the class and mimic that. Now you don't have to match their vocation and/or skills. They are just always trying to copy you. So it can be wise to go through classes and imprint your pawn with how you want them to sort of play.
Honestly? All of it. I love the new Arisen exclusive classes they added. My favorite being the Mystic spearhand. God that class is so much fun.
I also like how they added pawn conversions too.
The combat is something I can't seem to break off of, it's very fun and addicting. Especially so after I unlocked the wayfarer vocation, now I can mix and match? Bro!
Archer combat in general feels sick once you get good at it, can't think of any other games where it feels even half as good.
With wayfarer you can make some top tier gondorian ranger (best drip in fantasy, don't @me) fashion too which really adds to the experience.
I like camping. It’s a minor thing but sitting around a little fire with my pawns is kind of cute and I think it’s hilarious that the four of them cram into one tent
I assumed that Pawns don't sleep like we do, but they can just rest sitting up.
I love it too. Wish they'd have expanded on the cooking though, maybe different types giving different bonuses.
World design and how it feels alive. Like seeing that griffin nest hidden in a location where that miniboss griffin would randomly ambush you and retreat back in early game. I also really appreciate the monster design being based on actual mytho especially >!Sphinx. Damn creepy AF especially if you are familiar with the mytho.!<
Love the exploration and open world. Love the combat and possibilities with vocations. Also really enjoyed most sidequests and the story until now (just entered Batthal)
• Graphics and art design
• How alive and dynamic the world feels
• Combat is awesome
• Explorartion is super fun
• Fashion is top tier
• The physics system is great
Exploring the world. I haven't felt this child-like wonder from a video game for DECADES. Hogwarts Legacy had that effect on me, albeit to a lower degree.
Anyway, exploring the world is a treasure. I don't mind trash mobs. What I like is that whether it's day or night, the gameplay feels different enough to be unique. During the day, you might feel safe cause you can see the threats and decide to engage. At night, the game changes where you have to keep your wits about you as anything could come up.
The world is beautiful and it really does feel full of life. The pawns comments aren't as restricted as DA, AND they have their own interactions. I find those interactions fantastic as one pawn could celebrate while the other has a more pessimistic view.
The gameplay is phenomenal to me. It really feels like DA, but with better animations, things to take into consideration. Things like the ledges and the ability to bait enemies into walls , off cliffs, and anything in between.
I have my problems with the performance, but I'm still playing it and I will continue to do so. Once they fix the frames problem in the future, I'm going to play the game yet again.
Playing on PS5, and I can't get over the art style/Graphics. Took so many screenshots, it just looks so good and "real" unlike alot of fantasy games.
I wasn't a massive fan of combat at the start, but now i've ranked up and tried different vocations I think it's great. Scaling Ogres never gets old
The lack of hand holding is awesome. Having to use the map markers to plan your route
The minimal survival aspect - Having to camp and eat meat by the fire, having to sleep when fatigue kicks in is great and requires more planning
Overall I think it's awesome, and I couldn't give a toss about the performance, it's fine for me
The game is beautiful. Probably some of the best looking landscapes I've ever seen.
Combat is so good and crunchy. I get so excited when I see a big monster in the distance. Fights are always fun
Mystic Spearhand is THE "spellblade" i always wanted, its so much fun to be this magical augmented melee fighter (only problem is the ussual "4skills is not enough" and thats Mystic Spear has a very small skill number anyway)
The camping mechanic, with the cooking of the meat. Some people call it lazy for not animating it instead, but seeing real meat cooking like that makes me hungry all the time.
Combat is still unmatched compared to so many other fantasy games; mostly due to being able to climb the large monsters and being able to grab lesser ones.
The pawn chatter. Maybe it's an unpopular opinion, but I do love how they interact with each other. The cities are very well made, IMO, and the character creator is really something else. Also, fuck harpies.
The pawn chatter is really nice, just wish they had more to talk about
I miss the (often silly) discussion of enemies and tactics. "Wolves hunt in packs", "THE TAIL IS SEVERED" and "living bones that move on their own" are all absent.
Ngl, we need an "ah, a ladder!" equivalent for combat chatter.
"*This skeleton is skilled indeed*" Came to love this one, it's just plain goofy.
tbh the main one I miss is how often pawns would call out elemental resists. It still happens sometimes but I swear that was the first word out of their mouths in 1 is telling you what they were weak to. what are goblins weak to someone tell me please
After the umpteenth our vocations are all different or that one pawn demanding I let them lead the way to the next quest. Lobe the chatter but please.
Yeaaah, the different vocations thing is repeated too often, sadly. And boy is it annoying when my pawn says she knows of a cave I haven’t explored, I tell her to Go!, and then a guest pawn jumps on the opportunity to lead me to the quest location, not the cave, overriding my pawn. I need to see if I can unselect the quests so nothing is on the map…
My pawn will not shut up about being a mage previously. It’s all she talks about. She has all vocations maxed except archer but only talks about being a mage.
One of the pawns I hired mentioned that their master only hired women, made me laugh.
I got some pawn dialogue after running with the same pawns in my party consecutively - it was about how they felt at ease knowing each other!
[удалено]
What did you do to her lmao
I resummoned a pawn I had favourited and he was like "You've grown so much since we last traveled together!"
My Beastren Pawn has such a great voice. He also gets very sassy and jealous when other Beastren are in the party, it's great lol
I do like it. I just wish there was at least a cool down between doing the same dialogue.
Dap with pawns.
I love some of the conversations they have with each other. My guest fighter pawn fell off the golem we were fighting because he had run out of stamina. My main pawn - mage - stopped her spell to run over and restore his stamina so he could move out of the way of the golem's next attack. As he got out of the way he said, "I never would have thought to be in *your* debt." My mage pawn took it in stride and said, "Never fret! We all have our moments." I was like 🥺
the pawn banter bettwen themself is great sometimes my pawn is always very tactical and cautious, i hired a Warrior once that had a very brash personality the warrior got torched in a fight and my pawn said "see? thats what happens if you are careless!" and the warrior answered with "careless??? its called taking the initiative!"
My fav so far is when I check a shop inventory without buying anything and a pawn goes “Not buying aught today, Arisen?” And my pawn *instantly* snaps back with “the Arisen is ever prudent in the application of coin!” It’s like she has to tell them I’m not broke lol
I had one where my pawn ran out of stamina doing that archer skill that drains it all. Other pawn ran over and was like ‘wtf are you doing?’ And my pawn just said she was ‘in the moment’ lmao
Seeing the pawn give eachother a high five is like seeing your kid give someone a hug. One of the best feelings ever.
https://preview.redd.it/1vim587it6rc1.png?width=1170&format=png&auto=webp&s=8e05e6553e7358ea72f076e4e025acfc742f9f3a
unintentionally leaving them hanging makes me feel like i'm a terrible person
I feel so bad when I can't input correctly to get the animation to work. Like I swear, I saw you, bro 😭
https://i.redd.it/pup6wvw765rc1.gif
This is my favourite new feature by far, when I first saw it I was so inexplicably happy, I cant explain it. It has absolutely no impact on gameplay but it gives that little extra bit of immersion that keeps the endless encounters feeling fun when you get to celebrate with your team.
My wife legit decided we should get the game on the PS5 just so she can do this.
Probably one of my favourite moments was the first time my pawn high-fived me after defeating our first bigger foe. Such a cool moment!
it never gets old
Really doesn’t, I even get irritated when I miss the window to do it
I wish there was more of those little moments of camaraderie from a hard-fought battle. Something like extending an arm to help a pawn up from the ground.
They do that sometimes, if they run out of stamina you can go to them and pat them on the back like they do you. Same with each other. I've seen them help each other up too.
Either that, or when they catch you after you fall off a ledge or something
Lol the first few times I fell my pawn just stood there staring at me. When finally he decided "ok this mother fucker keeps falling im gonna have to start catching him."
Combat, atmosphere, general practicality to the art design (this is a big one for me, I hate overly designed fantasy).
U dont like ff for example (jus askin)
I do not like FF, no.
You just put into words why I dislike Final Fantasy. It always felt weird. I love DD's gritty art design.
I love Fromsoft's designs too. Even the more outlandish stuff still feels quite practical for its implication.
Fromsofts version of fantasy is actually quite practical; the thing that defines their style (IMHO) is how they handle scale, as they tend to go for larger than human scales for their structures, mostly due to how their stories focus on godly creatures and characters.
There's also a very weird sense of absurd, often slapstick humor present in their works. The Ringed Finger weapon in Elden Ring *(A massive finger on a stick which you can use to finger flick enemies)* for example, its played straight, whereas it'd be considered a joke weapon in any other game. The Jar Helmet, which is a pot on the head. Or, that one log trap in Bloodborne that gets basically everyone the first time around. The funny bloodsplats that you look at, telling yourself *"Hah, how dumb can you be to walk off there by accident"* only to do it a few trips later. It compliments their world well in an extremely odd way, which I struggle to put words to describe properly.
Moments of mirth amidst a broken and decaying world filled with things trying to kill you.
The absurdity of death to the undying
Radahn's horse is one example of this too. And it works, even played straight, when you have gotten as much buy in and effort from the player as is required to get far in a FS game. The difficulty and cohesion of their worlds makes these moments work really well. Too many devs try to ape this and fail because they're not willing to ask as much of the player. The more you ask the player to put in - in a way that's enjoyable and interesting - the more you can challenge their assumptions and show them weird shit.
IMO nobody has topped FromSoft with fantasy character and world design. Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Sekiro, Elden Ring. Everything is so fucking peak.
Elden ring, blood borne, and sekiro have the sickest premises I’ve ever seen I love the lore of those games so much
TBH a part of that is that in Demon Souls people had issues seeing the enemies that were the same height as the player while they were blocked by the player. The easy solution was to make the basic enemies taller. (That and size is an easy way to visualize difficulty)
It really contributes to the theme of "dipshit beef jerky zombie beats the shit out of a whole pantheon" with how imposing the structures are. I forgot his name, but that giant dead dragon over Leyndell is so cool. And all the holes in the walls of Stormveil, and the huge walls surrounding Leyndell And I really hope we get at least one more giant boss in the DLC. Only "huge" bosses I can think of are Ancient Dragon, Fire Giant, Rykard, and Dragon God. Oh, and Ceaseless Discharge (poor guy)
By "weird" you mean FF inherently has an anime-centric style to its aesthetics. Hell even FFXVI does despite it leaning into realism harder than any previous game
It's still overdesigned fantasy armor but the artstyle, lines, and colour palette trick your brain into thinking it's not. For the record, this is fine, I like the armor overall, but let me show you what I mean. [This](https://imgur.com/LluUtBn) in particular is a decent example, I think. The overall structure is fairly simple in terms of plate armor. The gambeson and trousers are pretty much perfect, no complaints there. In fact from my limited knowledge, MOST of the armor is fine. However, this, IMO, is titty armor. More acceptable titty armor, but titty armor all the same. That stomach plate, called a plackart IRL, is always supposed to be accompanied by a breastplate, either connected to the plackart via a strap, or rivets. This here in the game seems to be done either to accentuate the chest, show off the under-armor, simply because it looks cool (I'm hoping it's this), or some combination of the reasons. Now, if you please, give the shoulders a good look and I'm sure you can work out why they'd be absolutely horrible in terms of practicality.
What about FF9 or 16?
Even the bikini armors? Lol
I don't particularly like any of the armor tbh. The standard Vernum knight set looks the best to me.
I assume youre a Kingdom Come Deliverance guy?
Aside from the combat being a blast, I'd say love the ambience and atmosphere of the game. It's kinda hard to describe but when you're out in the wild, making camp, taking in scenery and stumbling into big monsters it has this immersive quality I don't get in most open world games. I also find the progression systems addicting, as they were in DD1. Getting gold always feels rewarding since the economy is quite demanding, so new gear always feels nice to get. Building up your arisen with different augments and skills is nice, and that little dopamine hit when you rest at an inn and see your pawn being hired, after making the effort to make their build good. It's such a weird (in a good way) and unique game. I love it for that.
The demanding economy is one of my favorite parts. In so many other games you're super rich super fast, but every gold feels like it matters so far in this game. It's also a blessing that vendors have unlimited gold. I'm avoiding hiring pawns with gold rewards for their quests because I don't want to break that feeling.
Agreed! I actually do hire those pawns though cause I'm always running out of money lol.
I was just thinking how well the gold economy is designed. I’m 40 hours in and getting more gold still feels useful.
Wilhelmina
Romanced her immediately once she popped up in the story, and Ulrika too.
Can you have two beloveds....? Cause both the elf siblings are in love with me rn
I romanced Wilhelmina first and then Ulrika later on during my journey doing some quest in Batahal after going back to her village she stays at. The game seems to allow me to be with both so yeah.
😎
Story wise? Don’t think so. Also PSA: Avoid doing escort quests given by NPC that you don’t give a damn.
Yeaaa learned that the hard way. I assumed the beloved in the story wouldnt work but curious how it works if you're courting multiple people lol
She gave me yennefer vibes
Excuses, excuses... You've not changed a bit.
Fine, finally something I'm willing to be positive about.
The general flow of combat remains great. Pawns interjections are great and sometimes even funny, calling out other journeys they have had with other Arisen. MAJOR SPOILERS >!Seeing the ruins of Gran Soren made me feel...things.!<
Wait... >!the ruins in the lake is gran Soren??? I did think that the map looked a lot like the first game!<
>!You unlock the castle through the main story, then unlock the rest of the town in the true ending :(!<
It is indeed: https://www.reddit.com/r/DragonsDogma/comments/1bpnjou/all_roads_lead_to_gran_soren_arisen/
How tf did I miss that it was >!Gran Soren!<, wow
Those ruins are my current desktop wallpaper. The feelings were immense.
Idk why I clicked on this when I haven't finished the game, but - that's going to hit me so hard. Holy shit.
Same lol
Some of the organic enemy interactions are really good. Like I needed to farm a few Liches to upgrade something, but I got to a Lich spawn too early. There was a Cyclops there, so why not? And then the Lich reanimated the Cyclops during our fight! It didn't really do anything, but it's cool that it can happen!
THEY CAN DO THAT???
Omg that is incredible
Warrior got ao much better.
Love just ignoring most of not all of the flinching. Swapped off warrior and it feels like I am ***constantly*** getting interrupt by everything.
[удалено]
Love it against large enemies, but feel useless against small ones since they either move away or die before I can hit them 😢
Exploring, I've not experienced this level of distracted since Skyrim. So many tucked away places that can be so easily missed, all unique spaces with different challenges. And on each foray, just taking into the ambience as we navigate woodlands or walk in the shadow of a canyon. Settling down to camp by the riverside looking out at the flickering lights of a town. The game is full of beautiful moments thanks to a world crafted with care and intention evident throughout. The respect for scale really gives the gameworld a sense of place and realism. I keep calling this game a meditative experience. The more I've played, the slower the pace has gotten. In the storytelling there's a serious issue presented but non of the sense of imminent urgency that causes dissonance in other open world games. This is exemplified in the dragonforged response to our asking where the dragon is; we don't need seek the dragon, it will find us when the time comes. The dragon is our big problem and the game tells us not to stress it.
This. Leaving a cave and realizing you're in uncharted territory and it's night time. You forgot to restock on lantern oil. You have one camping kit and suddenly you're fighting two cyclops with armor in the dark, who over power you and take down 2 pawns. At 60% hp it's hopeless so you run into the darkness, hoping to find salvation when suddenly you find a pawn fighting some weak goblins. You help them kill them off and immediately hire them to help you hopefully make it to a rift stone or camp site. You swear you'll never leave town without adequate supplies again (although you probably will). A sense of relief as you see the lights of a campfire nearby. This game is incredible for these organic moments.
Yeah, this is one of the strengths of no on demand fast travel. I remember the moment when I was exploring somewhere in Vermund, I stumble into some kind of nest and it's a long way down. I use my shield to negate the fall damage. And then Bam! Griffin just swoop back to its nest. It was around dusk, shit goes flying everywhere, my pawn stuck on the ledge, I was alone because they're all afraid to jump down. I keep asking them to gather, so they take the long way to down, it felt like eternal. The fight goes on until midnight, and once we felled the Griffin, we just realized that the only way to get out from there is through the spookiest shit in this game. It was awesome.
Ferrystones work well as a panic button, albeit an expensive one.
Just so you know, camping kits are re-usable unless they are destroyed by monsters!
This is why I keep coming back to it, even as I understand pretty much every complaint about the game and agree with most. The game is heavily flawed, but it has a strong foundation that we recognize. I think one step to making it more involved would be to re-add the quest board and rewards, and more unique items and equipment you can’t buy in the shops. Something to give exploration just a little more oomph.
Someone said that pawn quests are the evolution of the notice board and I kinda agree. It has a sense of "endlessness" to it.
Pawn Quests are actually genius, I just hope they expand it as a feature in the future. Being able to give my own quests for other players to pursue when they hire my pawn is so fun, and also ticking off the boxes for pawns I hire as well.
Also there's a Rifstone called Rifstone of Potential that links you with pawns who haven't been hired by anyone yet. Thinking about players not getting to experience a crucial part of the system makes me so fucking sad so I pretty exclusively hire from there. Their quests are the basic "travel for a day/night" for a shard and honestly that's fucking genius because you have a solid incentive to include players who haven't been included so far.
It really reminds me of Skyrim and FFXV in all the best ways, the exploration of Skyrim and the emergent gameplay chaos, and then the camaraderie of FFXV. I miss the Chocobros. They got me through a rough time.
People keep getting mad about how repetitive the journey can feel, without realizing they're supposed to slow down and enjoy the world and the quiet moments as much as the thrill of combat.
Really gives me BOTW and Death Stranding vibes, just exploring, taking in the sights. Very mediative and chill, lonely. I love these kind of open world games.
DS is a really good comparison because people got mad that it was the goth manbun's answer to what mail looks like in the apocalypse, and that's always made me laugh because, like, bro, this game NEVER sold itself as anything other than what it was. You're just mad because you didn't do your research or pay attention to the marketing. I knew exactly what I was getting then and now.
Agree with you guys. It just isnt your typical action packed modern RPG that encourages you to run though a tick sheet. Youre supposed to savour moments. the game absolutely has shortcomings and they’re exacerbated if youre not inclined to the exact type of game that this is. Elden Ring is a fantastic game and FS managed to strike a balance between their esoteric style and a more palatable commercial style. It feels like DD2 leaned even harder into its weirdness. I love the game and more content would absolutely be welcomes but thats ALL it really needs imo. More enemies; quests; areas and im happy. The core style is exactly what i wanted.
Yeah. People do NOT understand this. They keep trying to sprint from town to town. Its about exploration lmaaao
This and Death Stranding give me the best backpacking vibes. I really feel like there are some outdoorsy individuals on the dev team. Each camp feels like a real place I'd set up camp. One of my favorites is right before the ancient battleground.
I agree, I think this game has by far the best map exploration feel to it. I hope a future dlc brings some more biomes with similar scale. Would love to explore a large snowy region.
If you haven’t already try the detection augment from trickster. The coins never stop
Started today. Exploring is fun. Combat is good. For me, strong dd1 vibes, what I like. And, I know it might be a negative, but for me, it's a part that is just dragons dogma, I could fail quests. That's not a bad mechanic.
Honestly I was always put off by being able to miss out on parts of DD1 if you didn't an easily missable quest. When I hear DD2 would have similar i was a bit hesitant. Maybe it's because it's my first playthrough and so I'm not aware of what I've missed, but it actually hasn't bothered me. I've been taking most quests one or two at a time, rather than filling up my quest journal with loads and never doing them.
It's just FOMO. If you don't know you're missing something then you just keep enjoying yourself, and that's part of the magic of the game imo. I haven't been using guides (with one exception, the finders token had me looking up seeker token locations around the border encampment. The guides didn't even have the first one I found, which is on top of the blacksmith hut at the border encampment) and the only thing I *don't like* about this game is that I want so much more of it.
The fact that you enter Battahl from Vermund with NO loading screen, vice versa. Little to no loading screens in the world.
It’s got me thinking, does this game have any loading screens?
Technically... Dying, camping/cooking and resting at an inn? Nothing that hinders in world exploration which is incredibly impressive.
DD2 has the best soft-lock melee combat I've ever played. I'm the type who gets frustrated by games like Assassin's Creed, Batman:Arkham Whatever, and Witcher 3 because of how they wrest away control of your character, making it skate around, use varying animations from the same input, and target foes you didn't intend. Therefore I much prefer the static, 1 to 1 controls of games like Monster Hunter or Dark Souls. Your "rigid" is my "tight". Your "unhelpful" is my "reliable". But DD2 gets it right. It helps with positioning without being skatey. It does different animations but all within acceptable variance. And it virtually always goes for my intended target, or at least defaults to the direction I input. It even angles attacks pretty dramatically; I was most impressed when smashing skeleton skulls as they rolled around with my *daggers* no problem!
100% if you’ve played the new god of war Kratos teleports to enemies whenever you attack them, positioning is not something that you have to think about in combat. In DD2 I was fighting a golem from the ground with my warrior and I noticed how he would subtly do his strings of attacks but aim it just high enough to hit the medallions, but it all felt really organic.
The pawn system is very interesting and I hope other RPGs steal the idea. It helps the world feel more alive and it's fun to see how they interact with each other and what kind of comments and gear they come back with from their adventures.
Seeing as the pawn system was praised and been around since 2013 I don’t think any RPGs are looking to take it anytime soon lol That said we might see something inspired by it, like pawns to me feel like an evolution of the community notes in the souls games - they’re mostly helpful and sometimes goofy reminders that other people actually play the game
My dream rpg would somehow combine the pawn system with the shadow of mordor nemesis system. It’s cant happen because wb are scum but still a man can dream.
I'm hoping with this and the NPC hunters added to MH Rise Sunbreak that MH Wilds takes it a few steps more. Some AI hunters you can change the gear on etc.
Rastas from MHFrontier (an online game based on MH2, already ended) revival would def be cool. They brought back Espinas, a MHFrontier monster. Don't see why they can't do that!
The exploration is the best thing about this game hands down
I’ve seen so many people find magic archery and not the spinx meanwhile my ass ran around blindly and found the spinx but no magic archery
Tbf, you only get access to the Magick Archer after a quest that has an air of urgency and very quickly snowballs to the end of the game if you’re not careful
There is another path to the island that doesn't require doing that quest I think.
I see that now, and that makes sense considering there’s 2 paths into Battahl and I accidentally stumbled across 1 during my first play through
Really? Ibgot it by helping a lovely couple living on an island.
Yeah, I missed that on my first run because I was just gonna do a few main quests and then go about exploring. Plot twist, I finished the game lmao
I love it! It's the only game that I really don't mind running from one place to another.
Just found my way to the sphinx last night and it was such a journey. I literally turned down the path thinking "Ill just see whats up this way and then go to bed". Woops. Stayed up another hour.
Same, I was trying to >! Save Hugo the thief at the cenotaph, found the sphinx and was entirely distracted. Hugo died man.!<
I had the exact same experience. Literally just saw some random path and thought “I wonder where this leads”. Completed some random quest I stumbled upon. After that quest I spotted a cave entrance. I found the cave I’m like “fuck I need to offload some items, my entire party is heavy but I’ll see where this cave ends real quick” then another hour and I’m like oh shit I wasn’t expecting this. Top notch exploration
I am so attached to my pawn. He’s a kindhearted wholesome cheerleader who keeps all rental pawns in line.
Mine is too and he's so sweet. Always positive, and I don't know a better hype man. He's always there when I need him.
I really liked some of the side quests, some had quite shocking outcomes (especially the one in battahl). Minmaxing fashion and armor stats. Combat feels good and has weight too it. Vocations all feel unique and add their own element to combat too. The first time you kill new monsters is also very fun
Are you talking about the ripened quince one? I listened to his wife and daughter bc I had the feeling something bad would happen if I did what he wanted me to.
I really like how pawns will sometimes interject after quests (like that one especially) to the effect of "so that's what happens when you [do X], my master [did Y] and the result was... very different"
Just >!make a counterfeit of the book, the rewards are the same and nothing bad will happen.!<
High fives. Without them I wouldn't have bonded with my pawns, and felt sad when they die.
The entire elven area blew my mind. It hit all the right classic notes design-wise, with just enough flavor to feel like the game's own distinct take.
I love the inclusion of having to learn the language and the way it's implemented is exactly right. Talking to the shops and inn keepers feels exactly like trying to get basic services at a shop in a foreign country where you don't understand the language. I think I get what I'm looking at, but I don't know for sure.
Warrior is so good imo. I like it in the first game but I hated how they held weapons and that I had to jump cancel literally everything. AND they were slow Now they're weighty(which is different) perfect timing makes you attack faster and harder. They carry their weapons like badasses. I can shoulder check to cancel recovery frames. I CAN COUNTER/BLOCK if I don't time it correctly. Warrior is all I ever wanted it to be and more. Thank you for reading all that you are beautiful and deserve a hug.
Honestly warrior was the most fun class so far. I went Fighter-Archer-Warrior-Thief-Trickster(which I'm still at right now) and once I've gone through each one as I can, I'll be going back to warrior. It's just so fun, I love everything about how it works. I just wish I could use more of the skills because so many are good. Though I still haven't been able to come to grips with the skill that gets faster each attack, I never seem to know when to hit the buttons.
Right after your attack lands on the enemy hit the button again. To me it just feels like music.(I'm a musician I just feel timing😂) I haven't found trickster yet I wanna try it just to say I did but I might stick to warrior forever
Well then that explains why I couldn't make it work, I was trying to figure out the timing by attacking the air. I guess I need to find an enemy that will actually survive long enough to try it on. Cheers! I'm finding Trickster to be completely the opposite of how I like to play, I know it can do interesting things it's just that none of it appeals to me. I prefer to be frontline attacker, or ranged attacker. A pure CC/support doesn't really suit me. Regardless, trickster is in Battahl, if you head north of Bakbattahl you should find it.
Thanks! You can practice on air too! The timing Is the same you'll just have to FEEL it
I love the world, the combat, interacting with npcs. I love creating my pawn and journeying with them. I love being the Arisen again. I love lots of parts, I loved the Vernworth section with all the things to do in the city. It's my favorite part of the game. I just love feeling like I'm a part of the world and game. 😌
Magick archer, thief, and mystic spearhand are some of the most fun I've had in a game with classes in a long time. There are complaints but combat gameplay is a real reminder of the kind of stuff capcom publishes. It just feels really fun and fluid no matter the class.
Oh my god, base archer has felt the best for me thus far and I was NOT expecting that. Being able to careful AND auto aim is fucking genius and keeps things engaging. I can take time to line my shots or I can just focus on pelting with arrows. It's so good. Thief too.
I wish the Archer played more like the ranger does in the first game. I want more weighty aimed shots ):
https://preview.redd.it/ac38ehau36rc1.jpeg?width=3840&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e7332032395bbeb1ae7761dd4dfd65611591bd17 being able to make this sexy beast with this outfit
Tbh most of it. The world, the combat, even the story. (At least the true ending) I think the game needed about 1 more year in the oven, but I really really liked it.
I haven’t enjoyed an open world ‘sandbox’ this much since Red Dead 2, and DD2 is def the best open world since Elden Ring, but for very different reasons. The monster animations and design are great. The materials and textures are wild. That gross nappy hair! I love it! Also really love how the game not only has you come across character pawns in the world, but other (randomly i think) generated adventure parties filled with total weirdos who will also jump into battle with you from time to time. Really makes the world feel alive. Also the armor designs are sick. And the landscapes are beautiful.
Last night my crew encountered a troll just after passing another adventurer party and it was awesome to be a part of an 8 on 1 battle to bring the troll down!
I turned training your pawns into a science in the first game. I taught my pawn to use an exploit. So the pawn AI depth in this game has been a wonderful thing to experiment with
What all have you noticed this time around? I don't really notice as much because I'm trying to stay alive so I'd love to know what you've observed about them. There's so much I don't know about their capabilities.
Everytime that you do something "new" the pawn will say that they learned a new tactic. This can range from a lot of things and it will depend on their inclination on how they use that said tactic. For example I learned that you can do the basic attack with the staff while levitating. So then when my pawn went to mage she was jumping off of rocks to get huge height advantages and just reigning down fire. When I hired new mages/sorcerers they wouldn't do that sort of tactic. Then after spending some time in fights with us you would see the hired pawn start blasting while levitating. So your main pawn is like an imprint of you. They will play the most like you do. Then when they learn new stuff from other parties then they will incorporate it in the way that "you" would and then put it through the inclination filter. Or at least that is how I think that they are working from my observations. In the first game you could match your pawn's vocation and skills and they would basically record how you play the class and mimic that. Now you don't have to match their vocation and/or skills. They are just always trying to copy you. So it can be wise to go through classes and imprint your pawn with how you want them to sort of play.
The pawns are really doing it for me. I love Bartz. He just wants to adventure and be the best bros. <3
The memes in this sub and the pawns XD haven't laughed this hard in a while
Travelling the world of DD2
Pawn shopping and pawn throwing.
Honestly? All of it. I love the new Arisen exclusive classes they added. My favorite being the Mystic spearhand. God that class is so much fun. I also like how they added pawn conversions too.
The combat is something I can't seem to break off of, it's very fun and addicting. Especially so after I unlocked the wayfarer vocation, now I can mix and match? Bro!
Everything, having lot's of fun with this game and I played the first one.
Monke https://preview.redd.it/59wo2f5f76rc1.jpeg?width=3840&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2d13b0415abd7967d779884077b8ec46a5a04d19
The Archer slide gives me a chubby
Archer combat in general feels sick once you get good at it, can't think of any other games where it feels even half as good. With wayfarer you can make some top tier gondorian ranger (best drip in fantasy, don't @me) fashion too which really adds to the experience.
I like camping. It’s a minor thing but sitting around a little fire with my pawns is kind of cute and I think it’s hilarious that the four of them cram into one tent
I assumed that Pawns don't sleep like we do, but they can just rest sitting up. I love it too. Wish they'd have expanded on the cooking though, maybe different types giving different bonuses.
I assume that all four huddle in one camp and the pawns pretend to not be upset when the arisen jabs them with their elbows or something.
Combat is stills Dogma's best part. just needs a lot more content cause man is it fun.
The exploration is a **huge** upgrade from the previous game. It’s even better than most open world games out there.
The map is fucking massive and I like that there are more cities than just gran Soren & the fishing village.
World design and how it feels alive. Like seeing that griffin nest hidden in a location where that miniboss griffin would randomly ambush you and retreat back in early game. I also really appreciate the monster design being based on actual mytho especially >!Sphinx. Damn creepy AF especially if you are familiar with the mytho.!<
The world is awesome. I do like that fast travel is limited.
Love the exploration and open world. Love the combat and possibilities with vocations. Also really enjoyed most sidequests and the story until now (just entered Batthal)
I really like that I can play all vocations on one char and switch them relatively quickly
Using heavensward slash to counter a monsters attack while also knocking them over.
I like A LOT but the combat in this game really is something else man. Enemy variety is a shame but, fighting is SO fun that I don't really mind.
30 hours in. I actually really enjoy just about every aspect of the game so far.
Sprint > jump > light melee > concussive step > light melee > skull splitter
magic archer feels op
BGM 0 -> LOTR OST -> Explore ,just unbeatable, the game has crazy LOTR vibes.
Basically everything. I’m in love with this game.
I love how the character creation looks. It’s simply incredible.
• Graphics and art design • How alive and dynamic the world feels • Combat is awesome • Explorartion is super fun • Fashion is top tier • The physics system is great
Exploring the world. I haven't felt this child-like wonder from a video game for DECADES. Hogwarts Legacy had that effect on me, albeit to a lower degree. Anyway, exploring the world is a treasure. I don't mind trash mobs. What I like is that whether it's day or night, the gameplay feels different enough to be unique. During the day, you might feel safe cause you can see the threats and decide to engage. At night, the game changes where you have to keep your wits about you as anything could come up. The world is beautiful and it really does feel full of life. The pawns comments aren't as restricted as DA, AND they have their own interactions. I find those interactions fantastic as one pawn could celebrate while the other has a more pessimistic view. The gameplay is phenomenal to me. It really feels like DA, but with better animations, things to take into consideration. Things like the ledges and the ability to bait enemies into walls , off cliffs, and anything in between. I have my problems with the performance, but I'm still playing it and I will continue to do so. Once they fix the frames problem in the future, I'm going to play the game yet again.
Trying new vocations and getting addicted all over again
I love the detail of my character holding the hilt off his sword when walking.
The game is the best
I like the stance break system. It’s fun and viable playing with just warriors and or fighters.
Playing on PS5, and I can't get over the art style/Graphics. Took so many screenshots, it just looks so good and "real" unlike alot of fantasy games. I wasn't a massive fan of combat at the start, but now i've ranked up and tried different vocations I think it's great. Scaling Ogres never gets old The lack of hand holding is awesome. Having to use the map markers to plan your route The minimal survival aspect - Having to camp and eat meat by the fire, having to sleep when fatigue kicks in is great and requires more planning Overall I think it's awesome, and I couldn't give a toss about the performance, it's fine for me
Mystical Spearhand
I dont think ive felt the particular brand of cool that Mystic Spearhand offers in literally anything else. Its like being Dragoon Silver the Hedgehog
I’ve been trying to put Mystic Spearhand into words and I think you nailed it
Graphics are some of the best. I've seen on console
The game is beautiful. Probably some of the best looking landscapes I've ever seen. Combat is so good and crunchy. I get so excited when I see a big monster in the distance. Fights are always fun
I love the exploration! Especially the caves. Very dark and eerie compared to the first game, with lots of traps and secrets to find.
Mystic Spearhand is THE "spellblade" i always wanted, its so much fun to be this magical augmented melee fighter (only problem is the ussual "4skills is not enough" and thats Mystic Spear has a very small skill number anyway)
The camping mechanic, with the cooking of the meat. Some people call it lazy for not animating it instead, but seeing real meat cooking like that makes me hungry all the time.
Soaked to the bone, yet I don’t have to relight lantern
The sense of adventure in this game is some of the best I have ever seen experienced
Meteor being the best friend I always wanted
Combat is still unmatched compared to so many other fantasy games; mostly due to being able to climb the large monsters and being able to grab lesser ones.