the character customization is actually pretty big, longer hands increase your cahracter attack range with swords, heavier characters are knocked around less and are better at pinning down enemies (large and small), smaller characters consume much less stamina when climbing enemies, longer legs allow for faster movement speed, etc ... there are many little details like this into the game that makes it feel really diverse and cool.
And the best feature (and why I ALWAYS have a big, fatass pawn xD) is that being heavier makes you able to carry more shit before you (or your pawn) go into a higher encumberance class.
I love how in this game when the Sun goes down it get's REAL dark. Like you need a torch to see what's in front of you and skeletons literally rise up out of the ground beneath you. It was so cool going out at night. Totally different feel. Combat is STILL the best in any action RPG in this game. The way you fight with 3 followers is so cool and so fun!
@@Marlo_Branco THIS. After Sekiro, I genuinely, sincerely hoped Fromsoft would take a page from Dragon's Dogma, and make starting class more meaningful for equipment requirement, as well as tie certain gameplay features to class like deflection for Samurai. But nope, it's back to roll over and over again.
The spell effects was also a highlight for me, the destruction is well above standard RPG fare. Anyone unfamiliar should search it if they have yet to see.
Definitely. Start off as a caster your first time, then you can mix in some other classes as you get the hang of things, but some of the spells are truly epic!
Yeah spell syncing is absolutely amazing. No game has made me feel like a spellcasting God more than this one. Super satisfying to have a party of three or four channeling the same spell for absolute destruction.
Bitterblack Isle being the least played is weird to hear, specially since that is the part of the game I actually enjoyed the most. The fact I could take my fully leveled character into a new place, and still be challenged was a good feeling to me. And I remember some of the music in BBI being especially creepy when my character and his party of pawns would suddenly get attacked by some massive undead dragon. Of course that was years ago. But still remembering it being the best part. In my opinion.
Oh i love struggling to progress even if I-m too weak, if i do actually hit a wall i would continue the story and get stronger then come back. It is my second playtrough of the game (not of bitterblack isle though) so I am pretty accustomed with combat and that might explain it.
It's the best part of the game imo. The story is okay to run through, but not very challenging once you figure out the battle system, hard mode makes it a bit more annoying, not more challenging.
Not sure if you mentioned it, learning all vocations is good because you can use the passives with any vocation, unlike the skills. While people tend to not play Bitterblack Isle, i would absolutely recommend it. The amount of loot and the cool encounters absolutely make it worthwile. It also rewards learning the fighting mechanics if you hadn't at that point, like proper parry timing etc. If Elden Ring showed anything it's that difficulty is not necessarily a hurdle. The problem with DD is, i think, that people are just worn out by the time they think they should go do the DLC.
My problem was that to advance to the DLC after completing the game, you NEED legendary loot from that endgame pit. And that loot is randomized. I grinded for 2h and got nothing. Only legendary item I had was dragon bow and armor pieces, which is not enough for DLC, I just wasn't doing any damage.
@@nenadmilovanovic5271 Ugh... you don't, at least until you face this white dragon priest and you can get really nice loot before him, so you can do bitterblack isle solely on bitterblack loot... even on hard mode.
The magic is amazing, especially when you have multiple sorcerers, they will sync certain spells which can shorten cast time considerably and then really blast enemies together. Three socerers casting fulmination surrounding a living armor is incredibly satisfying.
I was really disappointed when they shut down Dragon's Dogma Online without ever releasing it in the West. It looked really good with considerable improvements. I hope to see a sequel soon though that would be fantastic.
I liked the way the pawns and npcs in your team would act on their own initiative - really felt like you were a group of adventurers working together. Nothing quite like walking down a dank corridor with torch in hand only for a colleague to bash open a nearby chest and claim the loot.
@@rickybindahoose6193 Just use Enb, I use Rudy Enb just cuz I used the same one in Skyrim. The combat is great and you can replace the textures from armours to everything in game from nexus, you can even replace the cinematics with reworked ones.
One thing I think is fascinating about Dragon's Dogma is how unfinished the game is. Not in the sense of it being full of bugs, but in the sense that they actually had to cut out over half of the content they originally planned for the game. If you look at the developer interviews you'll see some truly wild stuff they had planned out.
This is a true diamond in the rough. I love this game. It’s deeper than it seems at first. There’s a ton of cool side stories and hidden things you can do with other characters that aren’t really signposted, or even necessarily quests, you just have to talk to people and figure it out. I do totally agree that the story is poorly told, at least until you get used to it. It’s like there’s a bunch of story happening around you, but not all of it is told to you. There’s a more realistic world building with it that takes a lot of getting used to, and then you start _seeing_ it. You start to get the feel of how the game is telling you stories. It takes far too long to get going and the beginning doesn’t have much of that, but man is it worth it! I’ve never finished it, though. I played maybe half of it when it first released, then again I nearly finished it when the expansion came out. I really ought to go back to it.
@@joearnold6881 in my first playtrough i did not pick up enemy's to throw them off a cliff or did i know about pawn inclinations or about manipulating the affinity system i did not understand the mystic knight knew nothing about the spell sync of the sorceres let alone did i throw my pawns of a cliff to take the game on as a solo character.👍
@@joearnold6881 this game is full of them my guy. It was made for a new game++++... Specially the expansion because it's always changing the same place. You even have a system that let's you call for the worst enemies... Ever changing game
@@bsilva3879 yes I know. It’s great. I was asking for a specific example of something they found on their fourth play through, an interesting personal anecdote.
Like i've always said, DDDA is easily on my top 5 RPG's of all time. Yes it's a relatively small world when compared to other open games like Skyrim, but the amount of pure gameplay joy you can get from this game by doing the story, working on getting the solutions to certain quests the way you want, and finally testing your steel in BBI, makes this game well worth buying and imo a must have for anyone who likes fantasy RPGs.
For a game that initially came out in 2012, I honestly feel that this game was severely underrated at the time. I remember playing the demo on PS3 and instantly falling in love with the game. The release of the DLC in 2016 was amazing for players who had played through the first game and wanted a bigger challenge, I mean after beating the game a few times, you lose the excitement; however, Bitterblack Isle gave even diehard veteran players a run for their gold. Never before seen mobs and the fear of facing something terrifying gave quite the adrenaline rush. Not to mention realising that you can tell if Death is lurking because of the music (or lack thereof) was even more terrifying. Despite feeling overwhelmed by the strength of mobs, the experience gained from those slain mobs and the treasure made the risk of venturing deeper into bitterblack isle worth it. It was unfortunate that the game wasn't given as much love as other series, but to me, it still feels like a diamond RPG with a story that leaves you realising that there's a lot to this world that you don't know about.
The world was apparently going to be a lot bigger compared to what we got in the game, but due to budget and time the studio had to cut a large chunk of the game. There was even going to be an entire section exploring the Moon of Gransys.
Imagine if that was today with the money hungry game companies that we have , like i said on top is for the better that Capcom dont make a sequel because there´s a 90% probability that they would fk it up.
I mean, it's painfully obvious how much of the game was left unfinished. There's literal questlines that just drop with no real conclusion and parts of the map that have little to nothing going on. Hopefully Dragon's Dogma 2 will be able to explore some of the stuff that wasn't able to make it in.
Easily one of the best action RPGs I ever played. I literally made like 12 different PSN accounts just for this game to create my own personal army of pawns to choose from.
@@MBMephisto there was the leak a few years ago with Capcom development schedule for the next few years and DD 2 was listed. Not confirmation but one can hope it's real.
I cannot begin to describe how absolutely *hilarious* the romance system was. I will never forget suddenly ending up in a relationship with the guard captain. But it’s okay. On my next playthrough I forced the relationship with the character I wanted… by force feeding her copious ammounts of stamina nuts. Guess the true way to your beloved’s heart is through their mouth, huh?
Unfortunately, the ring is no guarantee that you will get this person as your beloved, because it's always the last person you talk to before you begin a certain quest. For spoiler reasons I'm a little vague here, but the info can be looked up easily on Google. Overall a very good review and because you've said that not every player will enjoy BBI... The DLC is meant for subsequent playthroughs (NG++++). Somewhat at level 80+ it will be much more enjoyable because then you have far more chances to survive. BBI has an awesome story which expands on the main theme of the game (do we have a free choice etc.).
@@MortismalGaming The character for the romance will be the one who have the pink halo around his/her head. If you don't want him/her, there is a stinky potion to give that will make the character hate you for the bad joke. The ring is not a garantee to have this character at the end, I experienced it and ended up with the armorer. It could also be a kid, making the whole last scene pretty weird. If you want to have good laugh, I suggest you to set pawns for them to talk in an agressive or arrogant way, they're so funny, when they get kicked away for example, especially female pawns who speak more lively.
Been playing this since 2013 when Dark Arisen came out on PS3, bought it again for ps4 in 2019 and now on PC 2022. Well over 2k hours total, can play this blindfolded and know every line by heart. We've been robbed of a sequel in 2019 because of DMC 5 D: but thanks to the Anime, MMO and rereleases to switch, I have hope.
on the whole sequel thing; there actually was a dragon's dogma mmo that was available only in.. japan I think? that has since been closed down afaik, but I found it interesting that there actually was a bit of a follow up to the game that we in the west never got to see
Yes, the Dragon's Dogma MMO was only available in Japan, sadly. Though, the creator has said he's back to storyboarding DD2 now that he's done with his other projects.
I think that it's important to note that, while min-maxing _does_ greatly increase your damage, it isn't necessary to be powerful. Honestly, at max level it's really the difference between melting the final boss in 10 seconds vs 1-2 minutes. So don't worry about it too much. Really I levelled the other vocations mainly to get those sweet sweet augments.
Min-maxing stats just isn't worth it for most folks, for the amount of effort it takes, and how unfun it is to do, plus how relatively little it really matters compared to just having the best gear and ideal augments.
Hi Mort, did you also try the magic spells, especially the high level ones? I believe the magic is a highlight as well. As a mage you're an easy target when forming your next incantation, but those spells hit hard and many of them look very impressive. :)
The spellcasting is definitely a gem of the game especially the multicasting if you have pawns with the same high level sorceror spells in your party. It basically speeds up your casting if you both cast the same spell as well as some other benefits and the pawns will learn to duplicate your spells if they have them equipped.
as in many games, also here the enemies have resistances. the monsters with feathers cannot fly when it burns, and wolves burn easily. Humans (your party also) in this figure are terribly sensitive to gravity and rejection, which often has dark magic. Gigant monsters have a larger hitarea so spells like long electric whip give gigantic more damage than using this the same spell vs. small peoples
I haven't yet tried a pure spellcaster yet. I created a mystic knight once but found it terribly underwhelming. Ranged attacks with striders, rangers, or assassins are far better. And I prefer a basic fighter for melee (warrior is way too slow, plus the fighter's Dragon's Maw attack skill is just awesome).
@@legionarybooks13 assassin Ranger or strider are the equivalent of playing stealth archer in skyrim. It's a go to... Playing a sorcerer is a totally different experience. More satisfying when you have a good party that syncs spells with you. Best combo is 3 sorcerers (you included) and a strider.
Im about 150 hours in, beat the game 4 times with my last time playing through speedrun mode, and i only have 1 achievement left! I absolutely LOVE this game!!
It’s awesome this video is spiking in views! I’m glad you lucked out on the algorithm, when you worked so hard on this video! I love 100% reviews too, I did one with Ys: Memories of Celceta when I got a pre-release copy - and it was a lot of hard work, so kudos to you!
When i played, beated the game and just completed Bitter Black Island one time and call it a day, it was an amazing adventure. In the sequence i hope they put more effort in the design and art style of the game, i know it's beatifull and have cool monsters, but they are all a bit generic in some way.
I'm so happy that a sequel is finally coming out. BTW I'm surprised you didn't mention any of the missable quests or how easy it is to fail them. DD is very hard to 100% and basically needs a guide. I wasn't able to do it till my 3rd playthrough.
Another detail which is not explained in the game at all: the more XP the enemy has, the less discipline you receive. And the smaller the XP, the more discipline you receive. So if you don’t want to level up but want to rank up, you are best farming wolves and bandits, etc. for the most discipline. Great video!
The fact u 100% this game is a true feat it’s one of the games I always wanted to 100% but didn’t have the patience or desire to play the way I need to to get the missable trophies out the way
Bouncing through YT looking at vids for Arisen (after the DD2 announcement), this is the best one I have watched! Very clearly explained. Please do an update.
The berserk cosmetics! Fighting the hydra and watching one of your pawns get swallowed alive and cutting off the hydras head to save them before they are digested, riding on the back of a drake into the sky stabbing it and riding it to earth like a rocket, using a frost enchanted blade on a lizard man freezing his body and shattering it with a great sword subzero style. There are so many fun things to do in this game and bitter Black Isle is really fun too. One of my favorite games of all time.
This game was overshadowed by Skyrim, everyone was still much into skyrim when it came out. Now since the sequel is coming out more and more people are discovering this game and really loving it, some even say they had not idea this game existed or just never got into the game, basically, skyrim was a major problem with timing, I think this game should have waited till 2015 to come out or maybe waited for next Gen release at that time. Capcom just released the game too soon after skyrim and that hurt its sales and popularity.
I love that you send out reviews AFTER completing the game fully, I think reviewers should do this more often instead of spending 2 hours in the game and then reviewing, tutorials can last longer than that lol
Been saying the same thing about the spawn systems since I played it yrs ago, how is this been not utlized more? Same for how choice's in ME effected play throughs to the sequel. And we can add Shadow of Mordors nemisis system also to the list.
Really cool to listen to your thoughts around one of my favorite games! Glad even more creators give this game some recognition! The community really expands and It's fun we are so many making videos about this game :)
I picked up this game from a gamestop on a whim and it has become one of my all-time favorites. I honestly don't know why people don't talk about it more often. The skills and vocations feel new even though they've been done hundreds of times before. There are skills I've never seen done in other games; I mean rogues have an animation cancelling skill. I feel like each class is played differently even with the limited types of weapons. Portstones that you place stay in new game+ so you can really speed up the main game. The boss monsters always feel like an accomplishment to beat, and the only game I've played that approaches monsters in a similar way is monster hunter and even that doesn't feel quite the same. Even the variety of monsters is something I haven't really seen in other games. The pawns are a great companion system without feeling like they are constantly getting in the way and a neat way to connect with other players. I know this is a bit rambling, but I just love this game so much.
I also enjoyed the heck out of BBI. Nice review man, I agree with everything except one. You're playing the game from the keyboard and mouse perspective, and that's fine. Just realise that the game was designed with a controller in mind. :)
I loved this game. I played my first play-through as a fighter with a ranged pawn. For each new game after I played the pawn I had used from the previous game. I felt this went well with the story of it being this continuous tale being told.
It's interesting to see someone suggest writing off bitterblack Isle when it, like the rest of the late game/endgame/postgame are astronomical leaps in quality above everything that comes before. Bitterblack is by far, the best content in Dragon's Dogma.
The black Isle tell a story about arisen falling in love with his pawn you must complete it twice to get all the story plus you got to collect stone tablet to understand how the place become curse i love that place and you can climb on small enemys to like the lizard mans and even they have weakness
The combat was done really well in this game. Everything from Warrior to Archer to Mage are fun to play. Even though the map isn't huge, it does a really good job of making it feel huge with the space they have. I also wish games did night time like this game did, it is actually dark and you need a light to travel. If they ever make another (fingers crossed) I hope they add a horse or something to get around on. Great game!
Very important note to anyone picking Dragon's Dogma, don't bother minmaxing, planning your levels based on your class in this game is pretty much ,useless since 98% of your damage is dependant on your gear, for example if you have any of the tier 3 weapons from Bitterblack Isle you can pretty much obliterate anything no matter if your "build" is focused on said thing, so play whatever picks your fancy you will do great as long as you have good gear and keep upgrading them.
One of my favorite games of all time! Even with it's flaws, Dragon's Dogma still has some mechanics that is not seen much elsewhere and if there are, are not as well executed as this game did. I do have to agree with the story, it could've been told better. Side note: I think there's an item that makes people hate you and basically lose all affinity points gained for that npc.
Dragons dogma has my favorite combat, and there's a bunch of skills I've never used only to discover how cool they are, although not all of them. My favorite game overall.
This is such an obscure RPG, with lot & lots of unique gameplay mechanics... A game that is in my opinion high ranking in two categories: "The King of Feature Creep" & "Games not by Kojima, but as Strange and Convoluted as by Kojima" and I love it for that strangeness. This is truly a game that takes you on a Journey. Journey... Like watching for the 1st Time: Jean Cocteau's The Beauty and the Beast! Or playing for the 1st Time Ultima 4, dive deep down to Rapture, waking up in a dark Chamber, then Discover view from the plateau in Breath of the Wild, or playing the first 150 hours of "Elden Ring". And the same as Bioshock or Ultima 4 it has a great ending... (My Opinion) 7:00 Men wake up normally to that condition... ;-) As always, thank for the Essay and your point of view... P.S. Play through on PS3 (DD) & PS4 (DDA) and in 2019 again on PC. Cheers to all, take care, be well.
my favorite game other then the Witcher series. Loved Bitterback Isle.. tossing grenades and killing cyclops at level 10 and getting 3millioin exp points. epic.
around 15:00 you talk about inventory / equipping and i am not 100% sure but i think its the same in elden ring, which i find really amusing that such a flaw is present in a current GOTY contender
It's a shame cause I spent 90% of my 5000+ hours in BBI the dlc is so much superior to the main game. And they actually test your builds, I can't even imagine not doing it. I also should mention that range being immediately at an advantage is just an illusion it mostly depend on how you build your character and team.
And to think that this game is not fully completed just blows my mind.. imagine it's full potential. I swear DD2 will be the best rpg game if done right.
I had tons of fun when I played this, tho it was frustrating from start to walk everywhere, and fast travel wasn't an option, but when I got the crystals, travelling got easier. One thing that I REALLY liked beside combat was "day and night cycle" and how it affected the gameplay, like during daytime, when it's sunny, it's easier to walk around the world, but when the night fell, it got REALLY dark and all the monsters and other terrifying creatures came out, it was scary fight them.
In DD2 I would love it if the Dragon's I fought in NG+ and on carried the traits and sins of my past play through. If there was a way to build your own worst nightmare, I think that would be incredible. Based off the lore, it would be a nifty twist.
I would actually say that Bitterblack Isle is one of the better parts of an already great (but flawed) game. It's very atmospheric and has an interesting story, though you have to defeat its final boss twice to see it all.
One of my favorite games. Climbing monsters, falling to your death, actually battling dragons, the pawn system, this game was and still is ahead of its time. The sequel is already a GOY candidate.
The funny thing about the romance system in this game is, that it unintentionally is the closest reflexion of real world romance. If being ignored by the character you consistantly court only to be approached the person you have been neglecting all the time isn't the best video game representation of real world romance, I don't know what else is.^^
Do you think we're looking at the future of MMO's? Instead of Pawns other people grouping together in a shared world to take down complicated bosses like dark souls?
The pawn system is kind of the whole point of the game. I'm really surprised no other game tried a similar system. It could work even better in other genres of games.
A note about character creation: Heavy characters are more stable than light ones in winds. But the main thing most people don't pick up on, is that your sprint speed is tied directly to 1) the weight you are carrying (which is obvious) and 2) the Torso Size you choose. Heavy cheated characters are not as fast as narrower characters. Basically, if you want a runner, build a character with a runners physique. (Torso 8 is the fastest)
Dragon's Dogma Online, the soloable MMO, separated some classes and added new ones before it was killed by Crapcoms. People are making the private servers possible, so that's something to keep an eye on.
I think i beat this game for about 10 times, and i still playing it occasionally. For me, BBI is the best part of this game. Every time i start a new game a always run right away to BBI after killing the first cyclops in the encampment. The story is kind of meh to me, but the combat is by far one of the best i have seen in video-games.
For me the best part was the dlc, thats when the game feels truly rewarding. Not only that but the dungeon has a 2nd form after completing it, so you have even more content to explore & even more rewards to enjoy. Just my opinion
Glad to hear you enjoyed the game overall. Surprised at what you said about Bitter Black Isle tbh, I found the increased in difficulty to be very much needed in the game. iirc the game came out around the same time as dark souls, so a lot of the critique in the game was about the relative lack of difficultly. I thought BBI scaled it up almost perfectly tbh.
Spellcasting and the pawn system were my favorite parts of Dragon's Dogma. Nothing quite so epic as doing a ritual spell with pawns and watching so many meteors rain down from the sky upon your enemies. Makes you feel like a god.
I loved Bitterblack Isle back in the day. It made me feel like beating a difficult rpg (such as the still-fresh Dark Souls 1) was actually possible. Now as a seasoned Soulsborne player, I just like to go back to Dragon's Dogma in general and see if anyone on PS3 actually picked up my pawn. Surprisingly enough, sometimes my pawn comes back with heaps of rift crystals after not playing for a few months.
Capcom actually made it so your pawn will accumulate rift crystals even if no one rents it, this was to allow people who played offline get access to rift crystals over time as well.
I thought the romancing was pretty interesting. Buying from a lot from madeleine and getting her to open her shop helps her romance meter while for mercedes getting perfect outcomes for the duke's quests (minimizing guard deaths) increases her affinity. You can give gifts or even just use an item that is more or less an "automatic love potion" to max out affinity. So you have options to leave the romance open-ended for some funny or surprising outcomes during the climax or get the exact result you want.
the character customization is actually pretty big, longer hands increase your cahracter attack range with swords, heavier characters are knocked around less and are better at pinning down enemies (large and small), smaller characters consume much less stamina when climbing enemies, longer legs allow for faster movement speed, etc ...
there are many little details like this into the game that makes it feel really diverse and cool.
Also, some area are only accessible if you are small like a dwarf.
That's awesome!
Your size also affects your stamina. Small characters have less stamina but regenerate it quicker and vice versa.
And the best feature (and why I ALWAYS have a big, fatass pawn xD) is that being heavier makes you able to carry more shit before you (or your pawn) go into a higher encumberance class.
I barely started.but even if i like it, i found the 1rst city i visited after leaving the village, pretty empty.i like when it feels more alive.
I love how in this game when the Sun goes down it get's REAL dark. Like you need a torch to see what's in front of you and skeletons literally rise up out of the ground beneath you. It was so cool going out at night. Totally different feel. Combat is STILL the best in any action RPG in this game. The way you fight with 3 followers is so cool and so fun!
Crazy other games rarely copy this, it's so good!
Lantern not torch
@@awlgh9045 If we're being pedantic - torches do exist as well, in the form of the "kindling" item.
YES ... sadly its missing in elden ring
@@Marlo_Branco THIS. After Sekiro, I genuinely, sincerely hoped Fromsoft would take a page from Dragon's Dogma, and make starting class more meaningful for equipment requirement, as well as tie certain gameplay features to class like deflection for Samurai.
But nope, it's back to roll over and over again.
The spell effects was also a highlight for me, the destruction is well above standard RPG fare. Anyone unfamiliar should search it if they have yet to see.
Definitely. Start off as a caster your first time, then you can mix in some other classes as you get the hang of things, but some of the spells are truly epic!
Agreed, some of them really gave you a sense of awesome power!
I had even played through as a caster, but didn't have a caster pawn and learned about double casting YEARS after playing lol
@@lipayy9852 I've played this game maybe 3-4 times on across different platforms and you just taught me that double casting is a thing XD
Yeah spell syncing is absolutely amazing. No game has made me feel like a spellcasting God more than this one. Super satisfying to have a party of three or four channeling the same spell for absolute destruction.
Bitterblack Isle being the least played is weird to hear, specially since that is the part of the game I actually enjoyed the most. The fact I could take my fully leveled character into a new place, and still be challenged was a good feeling to me. And I remember some of the music in BBI being especially creepy when my character and his party of pawns would suddenly get attacked by some massive undead dragon. Of course that was years ago. But still remembering it being the best part. In my opinion.
I spent a good bit of time there as well. Farming for endgame gear was easy there.
It's fun but I enjoy the more open world aspect than a much more confined area...I prefer the original game to dark arisen though it's good too.
Oh i love struggling to progress even if I-m too weak, if i do actually hit a wall i would continue the story and get stronger then come back. It is my second playtrough of the game (not of bitterblack isle though) so I am pretty accustomed with combat and that might explain it.
It's the best part of the game imo. The story is okay to run through, but not very challenging once you figure out the battle system, hard mode makes it a bit more annoying, not more challenging.
The main game is basically a tutorial for BBI. Best content in the game.
Not sure if you mentioned it, learning all vocations is good because you can use the passives with any vocation, unlike the skills.
While people tend to not play Bitterblack Isle, i would absolutely recommend it. The amount of loot and the cool encounters absolutely make it worthwile.
It also rewards learning the fighting mechanics if you hadn't at that point, like proper parry timing etc.
If Elden Ring showed anything it's that difficulty is not necessarily a hurdle. The problem with DD is, i think, that people are just worn out by the time they think they should go do the DLC.
Yep, I rank up every vocation at least to the augment I plan to use on my main.
I usually end up playing more bitterblack isle than the main game because the main game is well... a little bit boring with all this running around
My problem was that to advance to the DLC after completing the game, you NEED legendary loot from that endgame pit. And that loot is randomized. I grinded for 2h and got nothing. Only legendary item I had was dragon bow and armor pieces, which is not enough for DLC, I just wasn't doing any damage.
@@nenadmilovanovic5271 Ugh... you don't, at least until you face this white dragon priest and you can get really nice loot before him, so you can do bitterblack isle solely on bitterblack loot... even on hard mode.
@@nenadmilovanovic5271 you can go to bitterblack really early, and level to fairly easily.
The magic is amazing, especially when you have multiple sorcerers, they will sync certain spells which can shorten cast time considerably and then really blast enemies together. Three socerers casting fulmination surrounding a living armor is incredibly satisfying.
I was really disappointed when they shut down Dragon's Dogma Online without ever releasing it in the West. It looked really good with considerable improvements. I hope to see a sequel soon though that would be fantastic.
They shut it down cause Capcom is currently working on a sequel, as confirmed by the Nividia leak.
Luckily the sequel was just announced :)
@@KamixSam when?
EDIT: 3 hours ago on Twitter. Thanks.
@@KamixSam Theyre using the RE engine too. Im in love.
I liked the way the pawns and npcs in your team would act on their own initiative - really felt like you were a group of adventurers working together. Nothing quite like walking down a dank corridor with torch in hand only for a colleague to bash open a nearby chest and claim the loot.
DD is one of the finest rpgs that I have ever played, the guys created it with a lot of heart and passion and it shows in the gameplay.
Agreed - you can tell people who really love RPGs created it. It may have quirks, but it feels like how I would want an RPG to feel.
does it still hold up today? thinking of playing it in preparation for DD2. Im a big fan of fantasy RPGs
Me too, but then i saw that it is only 4£ on steam so i am playing it rn, well worth lol@@pabloarambula4627
@pabloarambula4627 dunno if you bought it in the end, but it's on sale on steam at the moment and I bought it, it's a bit dated but runs all right.
@@rickybindahoose6193 Just use Enb, I use Rudy Enb just cuz I used the same one in Skyrim. The combat is great and you can replace the textures from armours to everything in game from nexus, you can even replace the cinematics with reworked ones.
One thing I think is fascinating about Dragon's Dogma is how unfinished the game is. Not in the sense of it being full of bugs, but in the sense that they actually had to cut out over half of the content they originally planned for the game. If you look at the developer interviews you'll see some truly wild stuff they had planned out.
It kind of feels like there's a lot missing but I'd never heard this. Gonna have to look up those interviews.
Wow just wow !
Japanese new vegas basically?
This is a true diamond in the rough.
I love this game.
It’s deeper than it seems at first.
There’s a ton of cool side stories and hidden things you can do with other characters that aren’t really signposted, or even necessarily quests, you just have to talk to people and figure it out.
I do totally agree that the story is poorly told, at least until you get used to it.
It’s like there’s a bunch of story happening around you, but not all of it is told to you. There’s a more realistic world building with it that takes a lot of getting used to, and then you start _seeing_ it. You start to get the feel of how the game is telling you stories.
It takes far too long to get going and the beginning doesn’t have much of that, but man is it worth it!
I’ve never finished it, though.
I played maybe half of it when it first released, then again I nearly finished it when the expansion came out.
I really ought to go back to it.
I've played through 4x and keep finding new things I missed -- locations, systems, etc.
@@kaipacifica1289 give us an example!
@@joearnold6881 in my first playtrough i did not pick up enemy's to throw them off a cliff or did i know about pawn inclinations or about manipulating the affinity system i did not understand the mystic knight knew nothing about the spell sync of the sorceres let alone did i throw my pawns of a cliff to take the game on as a solo character.👍
@@joearnold6881 this game is full of them my guy. It was made for a new game++++... Specially the expansion because it's always changing the same place.
You even have a system that let's you call for the worst enemies... Ever changing game
@@bsilva3879 yes I know. It’s great.
I was asking for a specific example of something they found on their fourth play through, an interesting personal anecdote.
Like i've always said, DDDA is easily on my top 5 RPG's of all time.
Yes it's a relatively small world when compared to other open games like Skyrim, but the amount of pure gameplay joy you can get from this game by doing the story, working on getting the solutions to certain quests the way you want, and finally testing your steel in BBI, makes this game well worth buying and imo a must have for anyone who likes fantasy RPGs.
Getting your gear to the highest level it can be becomes a very fun quest on its own imo
Watching this after DD2's release date was just announced. This has to be on your most anticipated of 2024 list.
For a game that initially came out in 2012, I honestly feel that this game was severely underrated at the time. I remember playing the demo on PS3 and instantly falling in love with the game. The release of the DLC in 2016 was amazing for players who had played through the first game and wanted a bigger challenge, I mean after beating the game a few times, you lose the excitement; however, Bitterblack Isle gave even diehard veteran players a run for their gold. Never before seen mobs and the fear of facing something terrifying gave quite the adrenaline rush. Not to mention realising that you can tell if Death is lurking because of the music (or lack thereof) was even more terrifying. Despite feeling overwhelmed by the strength of mobs, the experience gained from those slain mobs and the treasure made the risk of venturing deeper into bitterblack isle worth it. It was unfortunate that the game wasn't given as much love as other series, but to me, it still feels like a diamond RPG with a story that leaves you realising that there's a lot to this world that you don't know about.
The world was apparently going to be a lot bigger compared to what we got in the game, but due to budget and time the studio had to cut a large chunk of the game. There was even going to be an entire section exploring the Moon of Gransys.
Imagine if that was today with the money hungry game companies that we have , like i said on top is for the better that Capcom dont make a sequel because there´s a 90% probability that they would fk it up.
I mean, it's painfully obvious how much of the game was left unfinished. There's literal questlines that just drop with no real conclusion and parts of the map that have little to nothing going on. Hopefully Dragon's Dogma 2 will be able to explore some of the stuff that wasn't able to make it in.
@@TheAluvisify I fully agree with you on that I hate running around like a headless chicken for no reason.
The moon?? :0 I hope they can explore some of that in the sequel
Good news! DD2 is around 4 times larger!
Easily one of the best action RPGs I ever played. I literally made like 12 different PSN accounts just for this game to create my own personal army of pawns to choose from.
I'm dying for a sequel for this, as long as it stays true to the original in terms of difficulty.
It's there! It's called Elden Ring
@@apathy526 -_- no Elden Ring is Elden Ring, Dragon's Dogma is Dragon's Dogma. The latter is also a better game.
@@MBMephisto there was the leak a few years ago with Capcom development schedule for the next few years and DD 2 was listed. Not confirmation but one can hope it's real.
@@apathy526 elden ring suck and is boring
@@Guardian_of_Old nah
I cannot begin to describe how absolutely *hilarious* the romance system was. I will never forget suddenly ending up in a relationship with the guard captain.
But it’s okay. On my next playthrough I forced the relationship with the character I wanted… by force feeding her copious ammounts of stamina nuts.
Guess the true way to your beloved’s heart is through their mouth, huh?
Haha. Hilarious 😆
There's a ring you can get, that you can gift to who you want to romance as well, but it's a bit hdden
Unfortunately, the ring is no guarantee that you will get this person as your beloved, because it's always the last person you talk to before you begin a certain quest. For spoiler reasons I'm a little vague here, but the info can be looked up easily on Google.
Overall a very good review and because you've said that not every player will enjoy BBI... The DLC is meant for subsequent playthroughs (NG++++). Somewhat at level 80+ it will be much more enjoyable because then you have far more chances to survive. BBI has an awesome story which expands on the main theme of the game (do we have a free choice etc.).
@@MortismalGaming Found that out on my *third* playthrough xD
@@MortismalGaming The character for the romance will be the one who have the pink halo around his/her head. If you don't want him/her, there is a stinky potion to give that will make the character hate you for the bad joke.
The ring is not a garantee to have this character at the end, I experienced it and ended up with the armorer. It could also be a kid, making the whole last scene pretty weird.
If you want to have good laugh, I suggest you to set pawns for them to talk in an agressive or arrogant way, they're so funny, when they get kicked away for example, especially female pawns who speak more lively.
Been playing this since 2013 when Dark Arisen came out on PS3, bought it again for ps4 in 2019 and now on PC 2022. Well over 2k hours total, can play this blindfolded and know every line by heart. We've been robbed of a sequel in 2019 because of DMC 5 D: but thanks to the Anime, MMO and rereleases to switch, I have hope.
HOPE IS STRONG!
on the whole sequel thing; there actually was a dragon's dogma mmo that was available only in.. japan I think? that has since been closed down afaik, but I found it interesting that there actually was a bit of a follow up to the game that we in the west never got to see
Yes, the Dragon's Dogma MMO was only available in Japan, sadly.
Though, the creator has said he's back to storyboarding DD2 now that he's done with his other projects.
I think that it's important to note that, while min-maxing _does_ greatly increase your damage, it isn't necessary to be powerful. Honestly, at max level it's really the difference between melting the final boss in 10 seconds vs 1-2 minutes. So don't worry about it too much. Really I levelled the other vocations mainly to get those sweet sweet augments.
Min-maxing stats just isn't worth it for most folks, for the amount of effort it takes, and how unfun it is to do, plus how relatively little it really matters compared to just having the best gear and ideal augments.
Hi Mort, did you also try the magic spells, especially the high level ones? I believe the magic is a highlight as well. As a mage you're an easy target when forming your next incantation, but those spells hit hard and many of them look very impressive. :)
A bit, I decided to make my pawn do most of the casting, as I didn't enjoy the play style, but it's very beneficial to have in party
The spellcasting is definitely a gem of the game especially the multicasting if you have pawns with the same high level sorceror spells in your party. It basically speeds up your casting if you both cast the same spell as well as some other benefits and the pawns will learn to duplicate your spells if they have them equipped.
as in many games, also here the enemies have resistances. the monsters with feathers cannot fly when it burns, and wolves burn easily. Humans (your party also) in this figure are terribly sensitive to gravity and rejection, which often has dark magic. Gigant monsters have a larger hitarea so spells like long electric whip give gigantic more damage than using this the same spell vs. small peoples
I haven't yet tried a pure spellcaster yet. I created a mystic knight once but found it terribly underwhelming. Ranged attacks with striders, rangers, or assassins are far better. And I prefer a basic fighter for melee (warrior is way too slow, plus the fighter's Dragon's Maw attack skill is just awesome).
@@legionarybooks13 assassin Ranger or strider are the equivalent of playing stealth archer in skyrim. It's a go to...
Playing a sorcerer is a totally different experience. More satisfying when you have a good party that syncs spells with you.
Best combo is 3 sorcerers (you included) and a strider.
Im about 150 hours in, beat the game 4 times with my last time playing through speedrun mode, and i only have 1 achievement left! I absolutely LOVE this game!!
Which vocation?
It’s awesome this video is spiking in views! I’m glad you lucked out on the algorithm, when you worked so hard on this video!
I love 100% reviews too, I did one with Ys: Memories of Celceta when I got a pre-release copy - and it was a lot of hard work, so kudos to you!
When i played, beated the game and just completed Bitter Black Island one time and call it a day, it was an amazing adventure.
In the sequence i hope they put more effort in the design and art style of the game, i know it's beatifull and have cool monsters, but they are all a bit generic in some way.
Thanks for your review, I'll buy it instead of the sequel because money
Can't believe a game so highly praised went under my radar for all these years
I'm so happy that a sequel is finally coming out.
BTW I'm surprised you didn't mention any of the missable quests or how easy it is to fail them. DD is very hard to 100% and basically needs a guide. I wasn't able to do it till my 3rd playthrough.
Another detail which is not explained in the game at all: the more XP the enemy has, the less discipline you receive. And the smaller the XP, the more discipline you receive. So if you don’t want to level up but want to rank up, you are best farming wolves and bandits, etc. for the most discipline.
Great video!
Why am i watching this after 1700 hrs of gametime? THis game is close to my heart for some reason.
You gotta do the Devil May Cry games leading up to the sequel. 3,4, and 5 were all directed by the guy who directed Dragon’s Dogma.
The fact u 100% this game is a true feat it’s one of the games I always wanted to 100% but didn’t have the patience or desire to play the way I need to to get the missable trophies out the way
Bouncing through YT looking at vids for Arisen (after the DD2 announcement), this is the best one I have watched! Very clearly explained. Please do an update.
The berserk cosmetics! Fighting the hydra and watching one of your pawns get swallowed alive and cutting off the hydras head to save them before they are digested, riding on the back of a drake into the sky stabbing it and riding it to earth like a rocket, using a frost enchanted blade on a lizard man freezing his body and shattering it with a great sword subzero style. There are so many fun things to do in this game and bitter Black Isle is really fun too. One of my favorite games of all time.
This game was overshadowed by Skyrim, everyone was still much into skyrim when it came out.
Now since the sequel is coming out more and more people are discovering this game and really loving it, some even say they had not idea this game existed or just never got into the game, basically, skyrim was a major problem with timing, I think this game should have waited till 2015 to come out or maybe waited for next Gen release at that time.
Capcom just released the game too soon after skyrim and that hurt its sales and popularity.
"you can't equip stuff from inventory, you have to go to the equipment menu." yup, that's a japanese game alright!
I love that you send out reviews AFTER completing the game fully, I think reviewers should do this more often instead of spending 2 hours in the game and then reviewing, tutorials can last longer than that lol
Who else is here because of the sequel coming out and interested to see Mortim's opinion of the first?
At this point you've become my "go-to" for reviews on games i can potentially play! Nice one man
Been saying the same thing about the spawn systems since I played it yrs ago, how is this been not utlized more? Same for how choice's in ME effected play throughs to the sequel. And we can add Shadow of Mordors nemisis system also to the list.
The whole choice system in me results in a lot more work and WB actually copyright protected the nemesis system
Really cool to listen to your thoughts around one of my favorite games! Glad even more creators give this game some recognition! The community really expands and It's fun we are so many making videos about this game :)
Solid video! Thinking of checking this series out as its on sale on steam. Subbed!
The last boss in NG+ was the biggest surprise to me and the main reason I suggest anyone to run a NG+ in this game.
I picked up this game from a gamestop on a whim and it has become one of my all-time favorites. I honestly don't know why people don't talk about it more often. The skills and vocations feel new even though they've been done hundreds of times before. There are skills I've never seen done in other games; I mean rogues have an animation cancelling skill. I feel like each class is played differently even with the limited types of weapons. Portstones that you place stay in new game+ so you can really speed up the main game. The boss monsters always feel like an accomplishment to beat, and the only game I've played that approaches monsters in a similar way is monster hunter and even that doesn't feel quite the same. Even the variety of monsters is something I haven't really seen in other games. The pawns are a great companion system without feeling like they are constantly getting in the way and a neat way to connect with other players.
I know this is a bit rambling, but I just love this game so much.
Character creation also makes big differences on stamina and stamina regen based on weight
man you 100% it already? impressive
In my first playthrough, Caxton, the blacksmith from Gran Soren, was chosen as my Beloved.
I wasn't able to upgrade my gear for SO LONG.
I also enjoyed the heck out of BBI. Nice review man, I agree with everything except one. You're playing the game from the keyboard and mouse perspective, and that's fine. Just realise that the game was designed with a controller in mind. :)
You are legendary. Best source of information out there
One of my favourite action RPGs an underrated masterpiece that deserves a sequel.
Slight point, one thing you missed was that each vocation gives augments, which can be used by any class, so they are all worth mastering.
2:30 This dragon must have been a pro in surgeon simulator!
I loved this game. I played my first play-through as a fighter with a ranged pawn. For each new game after I played the pawn I had used from the previous game. I felt this went well with the story of it being this continuous tale being told.
It's interesting to see someone suggest writing off bitterblack Isle when it, like the rest of the late game/endgame/postgame are astronomical leaps in quality above everything that comes before. Bitterblack is by far, the best content in Dragon's Dogma.
The black Isle tell a story about arisen falling in love with his pawn you must complete it twice to get all the story plus you got to collect stone tablet to understand how the place become curse i love that place and you can climb on small enemys to like the lizard mans and even they have weakness
DDDA isn't just a hidden gem - it was an underrated masterpiece ahead of its time.
All it lacked was marketing & pandering.
Your character weight also affects your carry weight and stamina recovery
The combat was done really well in this game. Everything from Warrior to Archer to Mage are fun to play. Even though the map isn't huge, it does a really good job of making it feel huge with the space they have. I also wish games did night time like this game did, it is actually dark and you need a light to travel.
If they ever make another (fingers crossed) I hope they add a horse or something to get around on. Great game!
One of many things I've learned from this game is that, wolves hunt in packs.
Very important note to anyone picking Dragon's Dogma, don't bother minmaxing, planning your levels based on your class in this game is pretty much ,useless since 98% of your damage is dependant on your gear, for example if you have any of the tier 3 weapons from Bitterblack Isle you can pretty much obliterate anything no matter if your "build" is focused on said thing, so play whatever picks your fancy you will do great as long as you have good gear and keep upgrading them.
I'm playing this to prepare for the sequel. Can't stand the menu system and backtracking, but combat is what keeps me going.
The community for DD was maybe the best I've ever encountered in 40 years of gaming. Fun, welcoming, supportive, engaged.
I really apreciate your review, I found it fair, and you went through most of it in a pretty straightforward and efficient manner.
One of my favorite games of all time! Even with it's flaws, Dragon's Dogma still has some mechanics that is not seen much elsewhere and if there are, are not as well executed as this game did. I do have to agree with the story, it could've been told better.
Side note: I think there's an item that makes people hate you and basically lose all affinity points gained for that npc.
One of my favorite games, I really hope they make a second one.
This game has a high chance of a sequel in the near future!
don´t play with my feelings! >.
@@Hravokh But we might be wrong, Monster hunter series is more lucrative than a simple offline single-player RPG with some online element twist to it.
it's already in production
Dragons dogma has my favorite combat, and there's a bunch of skills I've never used only to discover how cool they are, although not all of them. My favorite game overall.
This is such an obscure RPG, with lot & lots of unique gameplay mechanics... A game that is in my opinion high ranking in two categories: "The King of Feature Creep" & "Games not by Kojima, but as Strange and Convoluted as by Kojima" and I love it for that strangeness. This is truly a game that takes you on a Journey. Journey... Like watching for the 1st Time: Jean Cocteau's The Beauty and the Beast! Or playing for the 1st Time Ultima 4, dive deep down to Rapture, waking up in a dark Chamber, then Discover view from the plateau in Breath of the Wild, or playing the first 150 hours of "Elden Ring". And the same as Bioshock or Ultima 4 it has a great ending... (My Opinion) 7:00 Men wake up normally to that condition... ;-) As always, thank for the Essay and your point of view... P.S. Play through on PS3 (DD) & PS4 (DDA) and in 2019 again on PC. Cheers to all, take care, be well.
Every time Steam has a sale I watch a bunch of your videos. 😂 Great stuff.
I love this game. Thanks for the review now I must go play again!
I absolutely love this game I beat it twice and I can’t wait to play it again
What resolutions will this game run on? I have a 5120 x 1440 monitor and I can not access the bottom menus.
They're masterworks all, you can't go wrong.
my favorite game other then the Witcher series. Loved Bitterback Isle.. tossing grenades and killing cyclops at level 10 and getting 3millioin exp points. epic.
Just got the game for 5 dollars deff worth it
around 15:00 you talk about inventory / equipping and i am not 100% sure but i think its the same in elden ring, which i find really amusing that such a flaw is present in a current GOTY contender
It's a shame cause I spent 90% of my 5000+ hours in BBI the dlc is so much superior to the main game. And they actually test your builds, I can't even imagine not doing it.
I also should mention that range being immediately at an advantage is just an illusion it mostly depend on how you build your character and team.
And to think that this game is not fully completed just blows my mind.. imagine it's full potential. I swear DD2 will be the best rpg game if done right.
I had tons of fun when I played this, tho it was frustrating from start to walk everywhere, and fast travel wasn't an option, but when I got the crystals, travelling got easier.
One thing that I REALLY liked beside combat was "day and night cycle" and how it affected the gameplay, like during daytime, when it's sunny, it's easier to walk around the world, but when the night fell, it got REALLY dark and all the monsters and other terrifying creatures came out, it was scary fight them.
There's one night walking alone and there was a big head of a lion sticking inside my torch's range, was like holy cow it's a chimera 🤣
I wish to find another game that gives me a feeling of adventure like this did.
Bitterblack isle is an endgame area. No wonder I felt out of place with my lvl 15 sorcerer. 😅
In DD2 I would love it if the Dragon's I fought in NG+ and on carried the traits and sins of my past play through. If there was a way to build your own worst nightmare, I think that would be incredible. Based off the lore, it would be a nifty twist.
Going along, playing the game, having fun and BOOM! You are in a relationship. Sounds pretty realistic to me.
I would actually say that Bitterblack Isle is one of the better parts of an already great (but flawed) game. It's very atmospheric and has an interesting story, though you have to defeat its final boss twice to see it all.
Fighting the bigger monsters like cyclops or hydras had a very Monster Hunter feel to it, was very cool.
This is my best RPG ever. They dont make games like this anymore.
One of my favorite games. Climbing monsters, falling to your death, actually battling dragons, the pawn system, this game was and still is ahead of its time. The sequel is already a GOY candidate.
The funny thing about the romance system in this game is, that it unintentionally is the closest reflexion of real world romance. If being ignored by the character you consistantly court only to be approached the person you have been neglecting all the time isn't the best video game representation of real world romance, I don't know what else is.^^
Well, the sequel has been confirmed now! :)
Do you think we're looking at the future of MMO's? Instead of Pawns other people grouping together in a shared world to take down complicated bosses like dark souls?
That would be a raid which most mmo’s do a good job doing. Seeing DD’s movement and combat in a raid would be fun tho
The pawn system is kind of the whole point of the game.
I'm really surprised no other game tried a similar system. It could work even better in other genres of games.
A note about character creation:
Heavy characters are more stable than light ones in winds.
But the main thing most people don't pick up on, is that your sprint speed is tied directly to 1) the weight you are carrying (which is obvious) and 2) the Torso Size you choose. Heavy cheated characters are not as fast as narrower characters.
Basically, if you want a runner, build a character with a runners physique. (Torso 8 is the fastest)
Dragon's Dogma Online, the soloable MMO, separated some classes and added new ones before it was killed by Crapcoms. People are making the private servers possible, so that's something to keep an eye on.
I think i beat this game for about 10 times, and i still playing it occasionally. For me, BBI is the best part of this game. Every time i start a new game a always run right away to BBI after killing the first cyclops in the encampment. The story is kind of meh to me, but the combat is by far one of the best i have seen in video-games.
Your height and weight also affect your stamina regen, grappling attack/defense, and other aspects of your stats too.
For me the best part was the dlc, thats when the game feels truly rewarding. Not only that but the dungeon has a 2nd form after completing it, so you have even more content to explore & even more rewards to enjoy.
Just my opinion
Glad to hear you enjoyed the game overall. Surprised at what you said about Bitter Black Isle tbh, I found the increased in difficulty to be very much needed in the game. iirc the game came out around the same time as dark souls, so a lot of the critique in the game was about the relative lack of difficultly. I thought BBI scaled it up almost perfectly tbh.
Spellcasting and the pawn system were my favorite parts of Dragon's Dogma. Nothing quite so epic as doing a ritual spell with pawns and watching so many meteors rain down from the sky upon your enemies. Makes you feel like a god.
I loved Bitterblack Isle back in the day. It made me feel like beating a difficult rpg (such as the still-fresh Dark Souls 1) was actually possible. Now as a seasoned Soulsborne player, I just like to go back to Dragon's Dogma in general and see if anyone on PS3 actually picked up my pawn. Surprisingly enough, sometimes my pawn comes back with heaps of rift crystals after not playing for a few months.
Capcom actually made it so your pawn will accumulate rift crystals even if no one rents it, this was to allow people who played offline get access to rift crystals over time as well.
My first game in switch, still play it, very cool
I thought the romancing was pretty interesting. Buying from a lot from madeleine and getting her to open her shop helps her romance meter while for mercedes getting perfect outcomes for the duke's quests (minimizing guard deaths) increases her affinity.
You can give gifts or even just use an item that is more or less an "automatic love potion" to max out affinity. So you have options to leave the romance open-ended for some funny or surprising outcomes during the climax or get the exact result you want.