Dragon's Dogma medieval CASTLE review, Gran Soren CITY
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- My Gran Soren CASTLE review can be found here: • Is Gran Soren's CASTLE...
Is Gran Soren, the medieval fantasy city and castle from Capcom's Dragon's Dogma, realistic?
Background track: Folk Round
Folk Round by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommon...)
Source: incompetech.com...
Artist: incompetech.com/
I love the image of a grouchy, veteran knight, bedecked in plate armour, marching about town chastising the locals for their lack of portcullises.
And his pawn having to apologise to onlookers and guards.
I also loved the fact that they were farming inside of Gran Soren to supply it somehow in case of a siege...probably those few fields wouldnt have been enough to supply the entire populace but its a nice touch of realism while other games dont even have farmland outside of their cities.
It's confuse me that Japanese developers made medieval castle more accurate than a lot of EU/USA developers.
*And* it's their first entry into the RPG genre.
put1996 It's pretty simple - they're tackling a culture that is mostly unknown to them, which means that they do actual research when designing the game. Western developers often base their ideas of medieval culture on the myths and stories they grew up with, that their modern culture somewhat "evolved" from, thus being certain that they don't need to research anything since they have first hand experience from movies, other games, etc.
The Japanese' awareness of their ignorance allows them to overcome it, whereas western obliviousness and "arrogance" often keeps various designers ignorant. Look at, say, Skallagrim's video on combat in Maria the Virgin Witch - an anime with the most accurate medieval combat in any form of media ever, lmao.
Then again, the Japanese sometimes put really overblown, inaccurate stuff alongside the super accurate stuff, but still, lol. The point still stands - western developers too often think they know the culture when all they really know is myths and half truths, with them being convinced of their truthfulness and thus no intent to actually research them.
Miko19 The Witcher solved that
through experiance (anime) japan pays more attention to detail and a game actually being fun than western games (micro-transactions and overly stunning graphics that serve no purpose other than forcing people to buy a better computer only for them to find out that the game is shit)
...Konami, Darthzilla 1987.
Konami.
Dragon's Dogma is a seriously underrated game. So, so fun, and super unique.
that moment where you thought the game was over (when you killed the dragon then everything goes to shit) tho
It's too small and too short
@@BigDictator5335 ng+,a lot of side quests plus Dark arisen dlc,not that short unless you rush it
@@BigDictator5335 the main quest maybe short and slow, but it does have more charm and uniqueness than most RPGs released. It tackles the supposed cliches in fantasy RPGs like cliched monsters, class change, saving the heroines cliches and cliched conspiracies. Cliches may have bad reputation as repetitive and unsurprising but combine it with good timing along the storyline, it comes off as natural for an RPG to have. Western fantasy RPGs are actually bad at incorporating cliches since they strive for "new" content rather than polishing the "old" but effective content that makes you give a wry smile to it. TLDR; i like it
gran soren actually extended to the outmost ruined wall that you see in the field until over time it fell into decay so they reinforced the outerwall that you see now. for the defensive portions for the sea gran soren is built on an inlet and the main defense is actually the Blue Moon Tower for that side but still overtime that military sea tower fell into decay.
so in order to even think about taking the castle with an army even after bluemoon tower fell into decay you would need to make sure you take control of either bridge to each side of the plains that the castle rests on(not the front gate bridges) you still have to get past heavenspeak fort since the quarry is not really a good way to get an army through.
so out of the entire thing Gran Soren is only likely susceptible to sea attack. the entire region is just such a perfect defense that the only way is to take it from the inside
dragon's dogma is really the best game so far that has done defense to this degree
unfortunately all that defense is useless when your enemy is not another army but a damn dragon and mythological beasts
Watching these videos is hilarious, because the majority of it is just Shad running around screaming "Machiculations! Portcullises! Muuh-dah holes!"
"What's up with that guy?"
"Oh that's Shad. Don't mind him, he's just really into castles."
"CAWSULS! :D"
*cough* You forgot to mention the fact they built it on top of a giant, endless hole.
Nah, the seneschal opened that hole up on the spot, it was created right then, and then destroyed.
Darskul I don't think so. It was called the Everfall from the beginning for a reason.
Just toss a coupla planks with a bit of duct tape on it.
We'll need murder holes... in case the dragon comes through the front door.
They can't invade your city if there is no city
This is definitely one of my all time favorites. I still remember my first night time adventure where I ran out of oil, most of my map was in blank (unknown area), couldn't see a thing and got brutally murdered by a Chimera and a group of bandits... Ahh what times!
Ah, Master, you're back!
What's this video? Treasure, perhaps?
Let's have a look, this may provide aught of use.
What an incredible view. Soaked to the bone!
Yet there is much to find in these unexplored videos, Shadrisen... The hairs on my neck stands on end...
It seems all roads lead to Gran Soren. I only hope we survive the next encounter...
You speak the language of the pawns? Truly you have a gift ser
Me:
* playing Dragon's Dogma all day
Others:
"Have you a real life to enhance?"
Perfection
see's a murderhole, instantly oragsms
lool
walls are proper *THICC*
ya boi jeff Nothing compared to finding the vaulted ceiling!
ya boi jeff mount and blade you fools don't you see these castles will make shad have to get a new keyboard.
the ultimate nerdgasm xD
I really adored Dragon's Dogma. The game blew me away on so many aspects, the lore, exploration, battle mechanics, endings, etc.
Wolves hunt in packs!
Wolf hunt alone.
>sees Ur-Dragon
'tis far stronger than a common goblin!
iquaniqua ''tis left exposed after a grand strike!!
They're masterworks all, you can't go wrong
Their kind hates ice and fire both!
A sidenote about the pointless overhangs: There is a use to it - it increases the area on the wall. This might indeed be relatively significant, because it makes walking past ech other on a relatively slim wall much easier.
Furthermore, any daring wall-climbers would have to climb an overhang - which is much more difficult than a straight wall.
This is also true for siege ladders that are a little too short.
P.s.: I dont see a problem thick wooden beams like that supporting some stone tiles. At least as long as they are close to the wall with direct triangular support beams, as is the case here.
Oh I miss Dragon's Dogma. Why no sequel? :(
Chokon Mi Wang :( All we got was the Dark Arisen
S2MH because there's an mmo
Dragon's Dogma Online
Miguel Perez EH!? REALLY?!
Not in the west, there isn't.
Metalks
if you have a PC you can download an unofficial English patch
*talking about realistic design of castle in videogame*
*has a loli pawn with warrior vocation*
OH THE IRONY
Loli pawns are life
@@WOLFxLORD eh I have a merlin pawn. Old man sorc. I think of him as my butler. The other two tho are def pretty ladies.
@@shanedavidson1021 I made a giant tan amazon woman who shoots a longbow. She also carries all my stuff.
I've been looking for a Loli warrior pawn for a few days. Super rare
Dragon's Dogma is my favorite game as well! Definitely hits just the right note between medieval realism and fantasy elements.
You might also be interested in checking out Black Desert Online at some point in this series. It's an interesting case in that very little relating to player characters can be said to be realistic or historically accurate (they're divided into fantasy classes, the combat is flashy and over-the-top MMO fare, the "armor" is little more than clothing, etc.), but the setting - from the cities and castles to the armor and weaponry of NPCs - is a lot more down-to-earth and kinda gives off a vibe that reminds me of Dragon's Dogma in a good way. A lot of similar cases where the developers clearly did at least some of their homework but manage to trip at the finish line somehow.
Grand Soren is my favorite Citadel and fantasy City in all games. It's big, it has clear divisions of areas, and seeing this video and realizing how well it really is made with a few exceptions just makes it so much better. I love Dragon's Dogma!!
you should create your version of "The Perfect Castle"
He already did, check out his video on castle parts and terminology !
I feel like I don't even need to check that vid to know what he did... 1000gatehouses, 1000portcullisis, and 100000000000000000000000000000000000000 Murder holes.
and machiculations, don't forget machiculations
and draw bridge
Your forgetting the most important parts. Walls and towers duh lol
I think the reason you don't see full metal portcullises is because back in the day metal would have been very heavy, high maintenance (rust) and expensive. So it would have made more sense to use wood as it was relatively cheap, easy to fix and replace, and much easier to lift and lower.
It would not be just expensive but basically unaffordable before the invention of cast iron.
I don't know if they had this technology, but couldn't you put a counter weight on it to make it relatively easy to raise and lower? That's how garage doors work (except they use a big spring instead of a counter weight).
Galaxis still wouldn't resolve the issue of cost effectiveness to maintain it
"Even in numbers, a weakling is a weakling still!" - Pawn
You finally did the Dragon's Dogma review \:D/
Kyo 21943 This game is just awesome. I'm actually happy he likes it too :D
Pssst... Hey kid... Want some... Machicolations?
Something I really appreciate about Dragons Dogma, is that they let you mount monsters. Not like mount tamed monsters, but let you climb on them to take advantage of their blind spots, while all other videogames just make you stay on the floor like it was supposed to be a fair fight. Also you never hunt alone
mikelms20 You should've played more then. Playing alone without pawns, specially in the og game without dark arisen, is very viable due to one if the assassin's skills which grant you extra damage and defense the less pawns you have with you, originally capping at a 70%.
Kyriolexical Dino Just taking it from a realistic point of view, sometimes I did like going on my own, didn't know about the assassin tho, I'll give it a shot
mikelms20 You just need to level up the vocation to get the augment, so it's ok to use it with other vocations as well. Highlights to the warrior though, loved playing as him alone with a dragonforged hydra set.
I've been waiting for this video from you for several years. thank you for being so thorough!
According to the history of the city, in a quest that you have to pick rubbles, Gran Soren had another outer wall, but it was destroy by a pack of griffins. Does that make any difference ?
How the hell do griffins destroy stone walls? I'd understand if Grigori did it but griffins are too small
@@GeraltofRivia22 Did you complete the Griffin's Bane mission ? The f*king griffin can destroy easily stone structures
@@raulparrado1547 yes, and it still doesn't make much sense.
Raúl Parrado It’s mentioned this was done by A WHOLE COLONY OF THEM. Think if every harpy in the Mountain Pass and Hillfigure Knoll come crashing down on th settlement and you will have your answer.
Also, the damage is over the course of decades at best, Much of the rubble was recycled the current walls of the city.
The part about Stone Slabs supported by wood is now my favorite Shad moment. Would have had me laughing aloud if my ribs weren't so sore from coughing.
Question: If you were designing a castle, fortress, citadel or the like, in a world with magic and magical beasts, what would it consist of? What would the changes need to be made to it to properly defend against or or take advantage magic/beasts? Would the standard design even be appropriate anymore or would we have to come up with all brand new architecture, or do other points in history have better options? I think that would be a fun topic to explore! Maybe even as a colab with the other medieval channels or a community project!! I'm sure anyone who runs a tabletop game would love to have a structure specifically designed to take advantage and defend against magic/magical beasts in their pockets!!!
th-cam.com/video/Pd4sMFfvnIk/w-d-xo.html&t
^_^
Shadiversity Great! I had forgotten about that hahaha.
I'm quite a fan of Dragon's Dogma so hearing you so happy with makes me in fact happy.
i've been watching ur channel for awhile but i love dragons dogma so i was watching a dragons dogma related video and then this started by chance, didn't realize you also play and love this game. It's really, really good and for many reasons and not just the 'historically accurate/properly represented things'
Gamers: This game is BEAUTIFUL!
Shad: WOODEN FLOORS!
So I just picked up Dragon's Dogma off of steam. Last night. And after a few hours of binge gaming came to the city of Gran Soren. Afters getting the run of the place I started exploring around and was shocked at to the realism of this Castle I actually had to come see if you ever did a review on it. and low and behold you did. I'm starting to wish I would have picked this game up when it first came out on PC. I'm really enjoying it so far. The detail and the complexity of the game play while at same time being simple to grasp is amazing. But when I started exploring the battlements I was shocked to see that the internal layouts were there and made sense.
I was just playing this game yesterday thinking of how nice it would be for Shad to review Gran Soran.
Amazing game, still playing it on pc ever since its release after playing it since launch on console.
I love Dragons Dogma, even My girlfriend likes it. After watching/ listening to the castle review videos I've begun to want to design a castle/ keep for table top camping. Keep up with the good work Shad!
Thanks to this video my love for dragon's dogma increased a lot... And I didn't think I would be able to love it more than I already love it.
Hahaha!
Oh man!
You're purposefully dramatized narrative really hit the spot. XD
I think my colleagues at the office are really thinking that I've lost it, giggling to myself like I am. XD
Awesome video, from an awesome game!
Great going, Shad!
This is one of the reasons i loved this game, so much attention to detail for a fantasy game. Looking forward to part 2
More often than not, designers know _exactly_ what they're doing with regard to most of these things. They don't include them because the polycount of the piece would be multiplied anywhere from 2-3 times which would never meet the specs as outlined by the lead. So they adopt a 'we won't model it, you won't look for it' attitude.
I'd love to add in that this game was incredibly rushed and that the developers have only been able to add in 30% of the content they wanted in the actual game. This means that maybe every place in Gran Soren was supposed to be accessible, but they couldn't get it due to time and budget restraints.
I'm incredibly excited for Dragon's Dogma 2, and I hope you are too, Shad!
Considering the ruined walls outside across the fields around Gran Soren, I'm under the impression that it's been rebuilt or at least heavily maintained over a long time. Many things like additional portcullises may have been left behind with age.
Glad to see someone who enjoys Dragond Dogma as much as I do. Gran Soren is great. There are a lot of other castles and defences in the game that is like to see you review
Awesome you love Dragon's Dogma as well, i love Gran Soren and your insight in it is really amazing, looking forward in the next part!
Hey Shaddie, I know this one is a bit out of left-field, but there's a Mount and Blade Warband mod called Prophesy of Pendor which is still being worked on, it's been around for ages, but it has some really interesting castles (and an awesome low fantasy setting) that have been custom made. I just thought it would be cool for a channel like yours to cover the mod because the creators have put in a lot of hard work over a long period of time and their work deserves to have as many eyes on it as possible, in my humble opinion. If you are interested, two castles I'd suggest you look at are Seven Cross Keep, which has a really, really beautiful keep design with machicolations, which made me think of your channel. Walven Castle is another good one, because it's a castle that is clearly quite run-down and low budget but has some very sound defensive principle there. These are small castles as every inch of them is supposed to be practical in gameplay, so I'm sure you could cover a few in one video. I'd be really interested to hear your opinion on these keeps from a real-world standpoint. Thanks :)
Listening to Shad get excited about murder holds and portcullises and vaulted ceilings fills me with joy. He's just so adorable!
I knew it! I knew that you will like it! Exept for these cursed embattlemets (you'l have to look for them in Mount and blade). Also funny thing about Gran Soren (whatever) and your channel is that dragons and other wierd monsters are do tend to attack the city in order to neglect the concept of the castle (or to kill and eat some feble humans). And once again, sorry for my terrible english.
Hello, Shad.
So, since my brother directed me to your channel some few months ago, I’ve been binging your videos and learning a lot. You see, I’m working on an animated mini-series that takes place in a medieval esqe fantasy setting, and your videos are a tremendous help to making it more authentic (even if they have, admittedly, led to some SUBSTANTIAL redesigns XD) It probably won’t be finished for another…… three hundred years! (since its pretty much just me working on it alone at the moment, and I have never done anything like this before) but anyway, you can just go ahead and add this to your collection of comments saying how awesome and informative your videos are. Thank you, and keep up the good work!
I recently rewatched this video and am playing dragons dogma again right now. the round towers that surround the keep has proper machicolations. if you enter the door next to the second entrance to gran soren, you can go up on the wall and walk all the way to the end of it and look up to see that the machicolations have holes all the way through and you can see the sky. there is also a beautiful vaulted ceiling at the bottom of that tower. also the arrow slits that are missing outside the entrance of the city actually do have an alcove on the inside of the tower for where it should be. there are four alcoves on each tower but only the two middle ones have arrow slits.
I also discovered a some toilets, one of wich is hanging over the pawnguild effectively shitting on their roof.
you can also get to that bastion over the gate to the path to the noble quarter.
"THE WIND IS PUSHING MEEEE!"
I love Dragon's Dogma!
Wait, what about the surrounding terrain?!
_ VernerL _ If I remember correctly, Gran Soren has its back to a lake and its front on a steep hill, the only way into it is by the bridge. Might be wrong though, been some time since I've played DD.
I think it's back is to the sea, but I'm not pulling up the game before I reply. Still, very defensable position.
The majority of the area around Gran Soren is... Unfortunately terrible for the defenders. Lots of flat ground and plenty of places where you can put siege engines. You can't get a tower of troops up to it, no, but you can easily bombard the walls and keep the place surrounded. And the defences for the ocean are fairly pitiful. The walls are there, and a steep cliff, but... Well... With some determination, you could climb up during the night.
Overall, the area around it is... Fairly terrible for the defenders, but at least you can't get siege towers up to it. Especially near the... Left? Left side of the city, there is a lot of old ruins. You could hide an entire camp there fairly safely. Not to mention, there are several ways inside the city from the outside that the defenders are unaware of, or don't guard very well. Like the sewer entrance gate, and, from there, a quick bust through and you'll get into the dungeons of the main keep in no time flat.
Thus divided districts, a point which seems... absent from this line of conjecture? Not to mention that open fields cause you to broadcast your presence for the entirety of your advance. Or the fact that the city itself is on a rise, thus giving any larger projectiles additional inertia as they fall toward said impending advance. Because there's absolutely NO WAY you'd start pelting any idiot marching across the open fields with high velocity boulders flung by trebuchets... Not at all an effective strategy, oh no. And we're CLIMBING sheer walls? Wet with sea spray? In the dark?.. I'd tell my commanding officer that he was relieved of command due to insanity before I followed that order, and so would you, unless you've been lobotomized or are completely suicidal.
MrJinglejanglejingle yea may be but thers a big moat thick high walls and the ruins sopose to be part of the city but you know giant monsters destroy it, allso a siege to gran soren.... not a greate idea thers monsters outside bigass monsters
NOVIGRAD !!! The witcher 3... Please, if you don't mind, thank you. Love this series so much!
I was just thinking that myself.
Alex Anderson an actual medieval city but what about the real novigrad.
I second Novigrad (again, I think ;) )
I love this guys infectious enthusiasm! XD
I'm no scholar, and I've seen more than my share of beautiful fantasy castles (masterworks, all) - but I was particularly struck by how believable and severe Gran Soren is. It doesn't have all kinds of towering spires and fancy gargoyles like, say, Bloodborne - it's just a giant block of stone there to get the job done. It feels heavy.
I have been waiting for this. Seriously, beat the game first time couple days ago. Was playing through and thought "Wonder if Shad will do a review of Gran Soren..." EXPECTATIONS MET! :D Gran Soren is EXTREMELY well made as far as detail. Never seen anything that accurate before.
Also what the Hell is your computer running? You said it's effectively bleeding trying to screen cap and play.
I think the abundance of griffins, goblins, skeletons, and other monsters in the area makes up for any lack of defense in the scenario of an approaching army lol
In conclusion: it's far from perfect, but it's clear they've gone the extra mile to make it as good as possible, and they did a pretty good job.
Just like every other part of Dragon's Dogma.
Shads joyful reactions show how much attention to detail can improve a game.
I did NOT think I would love this video so much! I never spared much thought to city and castle defense and hearing this shit like the sectioning off the city, the murder holes.. just so much COMPLETELY changed the way I will be looking at these things 😍
I haven't looked through all your castle videos but maybe if you haven't already would you do a review of a real historical "Golden Standard" of brilliant defenses? I would absolutely watch the shit out of that 💜
YES THANKS FOR MAKING THIS!
Requested it a bunch of times :D
Thank you for taking my suggestion and taking a look at this castle (or maybe you were going to review it anyway...).
Amazing work as always Shad~~~
i bought this game a year or two ago when you suggested it, and it was definitely worth it. like you said, the combat is just so enjoyable. thanks!
I recently played this game for the first time since i was a kid that dident understand english or quests, and I was fucking AMAZED when i came to The city! Its just amazing on every lvl! Its HUGE for a video game city, so many houses and People and the attention to detail is just perfect ❤️ In The old games People REALLY CARED about details more then today...
That pawn is an adorable little page.
If I ever made a game that had castles, I would so contact you for castle design.
1:49 the floating greatsword
It's actually a longsword
Conner Dale no, that's a greatsword
+Snifflewink By Dragon's Dogma terms, it's a longsword, and Shad even said longswords could be that large
Conner Dale www.coldsteel.com/two-handed-great-sword.html
it's literally the same as this greatsword.
+Snifflewink Point taken, but still, it's counted as a longsword in Dragon's Dogma, but you're right, it is a greatsword
I love this game too - JUST picked it up by chance and it's brilliant to play!
There is rumour of DD2!
It would be really cool if you did a run down review at the end saying if the castle would survive an in game attack. Realistic army sizes based on in the game consistencies with populations and technology. I was feel like a pass or no pass grade is needed to grade the castle after you perfectly nit pick it through out the video. I love love love these vids man. Perfection but an ending summary is needed
The excitement is strong with this one... Lol another great video as always, looking forward to part 2. And speaking of pirates, I just signed up for a summer course on the history of pirates!!... for university credits, towards my degree!!... I'll be speaking like a pirate all summer now :P
Funny, played through this game about a month ago, and while doing it I was walking around Gran Soren analyzing it with what I've learned watching this channel.
Also do Cloud Ruler Temple from Onlibion, since they say in the game that "few can defend against many" (paraphrasing)
If you ever do like a fortification appreciation video I'd recommend the real life Old City of Jerusalem, I think back in the 80's the IDF tried to blast a hole in the wall (with modern explosives) but failed to.
Subbed and liked the moment you said this is your favorite game ^^
the castle in Carcassonne has a tower above its outer wall which is completely open from the inside so that whoever takes it cannot use it to protect himself from arrows from that direction. there's a big empty space between that outer wall an the inner wall, turning that area into a murder zone (as well as an area where the castle defenders can assemble for a parley). it also has a neat system for the drawbridge where you need men on two separate floors to operate the windlasses to raise it and there are no means for them to communicate directly. This makes treachery a lot more difficult.
i know this video is old, but i want to answer to minute 3:30
No, the overhang of that Towers makes sense! See that the Basement of the tower is conic to fix the weight issue of building a tower that tall. So the extra overhang lets defenders just drop stones instead of throwing a meter to avoid hitting the towers basement.
And on Walls they (overhangs) are for a diffrent angle for ladders. it is more psychic disadvantage for the attacker if the ladder is so far away of the majority of the wall.
I hope you guys understand my bad english and what i tried to say.
Old vid I know, but since I'll watching some full playlists I thought of adding comment
I love how bad the audio is at times. it sounds like the audio recordings inside 80-90's toys, specially on long vocals (specially on "ooh's" and "aaah's")
or the audio on early 90's PC games XD
it made me laugh, legit. no harm feeling with this comment.
Another great video, teaching all of us about castle design and rambling while doing so, lovely.
Also talking about games with realistic stuff in it, there is a game called Mordhau whose kickstarter was launched yesterday and it looks absolutely gorgeous. The developement team actually met and used 3D laser scan to get a replica model of Socerb Castle for a map in game. You should totally chek it out Shad! i can assure you you will love it.
This game have a great great combat system, very japanese.
I was about to ask Shad to review this castle and lord and behold, he already did two videos last year. Good thing I checked first.
Does the Misses know you're cheating on her with a virtual castle?
Seeing your character running along the walls with battlements on one side and a drop to the death on the other, I can't shake off the feeling that we're missing out a part in medieval wall design: balustrades (and yes, I got the idea from Lindybeige).
Whenever I visit a castle (last one was the São Jorge Castle in Lisbon) and climb up these (from a modern perspective surprisingly) steep stairs, I get very uncomfortable. Even if there are modern handrails set into the walls. I know that the steps are worn down over time and are much more wobbly, round-edged and generelly more slippery than back at the time but still. Even if in good shape and dry, people back then with their not-so-grippy soles, must have had a hard time climbing those stairs. And staying on top of the walls after. I'd be much happier with some firm wood on the other side.
Finally its getting some recognition. My favourite game too
Probably my favourite video game video just because of how excited Shad gets 😂👌🏻
Great video. You sounded like Cicero from Skyrim while discussing vaulted ceilings...
Thank you so much for doing my suggestion!
Excellent as always. I wonder though if the square towers (4:13) aren't pushed forward enough to provide an effective flanking fire to the walls and other towers. They are extended out less than half of their total depth and only provide room for a small number of archers who would have the correct angle for supporting fire. Just my thought, and I'm certainly no expert.
1:34 i love how shad is talking about how realistic the game is, while an npc glitches over a rock 😂
Really like the videos about castles in games. It's nice to learn something new and to see educational side of games. Hopefully designers will watch this too, but I guess some details like machicolations wold be too time consuming to create and probably too demanding for hardware.
I love this game!
Thanks for reviewing Gran Soren!
But as the paws says later in the game: "All these defences were useless in the end..."
Soooo much done right in dragon's dogma, but many of the blunders that do exist are so obvious! It hurts my brain trying to figure out how they could understand defensive structures so well and still somehow not understand defensive structures. My guess is that some of the missing features were probably left out intentionally to reduce strain on our computers, like all the additional portcullises along that death gauntlet. One or two portcullises doesn't seem like much, but when you add them up with machicolations, inward-facing battlements, and all the other features they missed, it becomes a pretty decent number of polygons. Maybe we're meant to imagine the rest. Or perhaps it just came down to different teams with differing levels of knowledge working on different parts (*Cough* The keep). I kinda wish I was skilled enough to create a mod that adds in some finishing touches. As for the keep... If you value your sanity, just don't go inside. Just... don't.
P.S. I doubt you'll even see this comment since the video is quite old, but what are your thoughts on other structures in Dogma, such as Windbluff Tower and Bluemoon Tower?
Hay Shad, I'm nobody to tell you what to do or even give you advice, but I think it'd be best for your channel if you focused mainly on castles and other defensive structures. There are many channels on TH-cam talking about armour and weapons, but I've rarely seen people analyzing castles to such a great, in-depth level. So keep up the good work, because to me, these videos are the most entertaining, as well as educational! (I'll never look at a castle the same way I did thanks to you).
Looks like a really well made castle! :)
The thing I found quite odd was the little braziers bolted onto the outside wall of the main gatehouse towers. Miles away from any windows, so they must be a bugger to light and refuel...
@Shadiversity Missed an important defensive feature worth some extra credit! at 10:00 and 17:34 you can see accommodations in the stonework for hoardings!
this game is amazing if you consider where it came from. it came from a Japanese company as their first attempt at a western style RPG. There's a lot of things they get right that other games haven't with their 5th installment (looking at you skyrim and dragon age. Okay, dragon age at the time only had 2 under it's belt, but still), and do so awesomely and anything that was done wrong or fell short on, like voice over quality and story, I waved off as their trial crossing cultural barriers with different theatrical tropes. Considering what they had to break through culturally this game, it's one of the greatest games of all time. its a shame it didn't get more recognition
I've been waiting for this review. I was hoping you would speculate on the ruins outside of the city. It looks like rundown walls and quarters.
There was more to the city but Griffins destroyed it. It was largely barracks if memory serves.
great stuff sir, loving this sort of videos. just fun!
Can you comment on the ruined bandit fort in the south of the map and maybe the other forts as well...
EDIT: Also, Shad, would you consider talking about the outskirts, how the ruins might have performed before they were... well, ruins? I suppose the fact that they're ruins around the wall should be an indicator but still.
I think you often forget to attribute obvious failures to system limitations. I think Dragon's Dogma already pushed the Xbox 360 and PS3 to their limits, so if they had included those extra details (Crenellations, Parapet's on both sides of the dividing walls, slits for the portcullis to move through and winches to raise and lower them, doors and gates and portcullis' where they are missing, arrowslits where there are none, etc) would have been just a little too much.
I know the series is supposed to take a critical look at these castles but I think that this fact earns them a little forgiveness for missing details.
Most of those things require extra models and textures and transparencies and lighting, and sometimes it's just a little much, so missing details here and there for better performance is necessary.
Or maybe they really didn't think of it, who knows.
Also I know you're playing it on PC, as am I, but remember also that this game was originally made FOR consoles and it was actually pretty recently it came out for PC. Now on the PC they probably could've added all those extra details and it would run smoother, but of course that would be hoping too much.
Glad to finally see Gran Soren, I've been waiting! Thanks!
Also, I also love playing new characters on hard mode, it's fuckin' great!
Yes! I've been waiting for this!
can you do a video on the old camp from Gothic 1?
Just asked this!
Alexy Guadalupe dude yes or gothic 2 also
Great video as usual I have som suggestions for next in this serie: Novigrad and Oxenfurt from The Witcher 3, Bowerstone from the Fable titles
Salutations from France
I don't know if you've played WOW but I'd be interested to see your analysis on either Ironforge (Taking into account it's a dwarven city) or Stormwind city. Another castle/city I'd be interested in seeing analysed is the city of the gods Anor Londo from Dark Souls (again taking into account it was a city filled with people much larger than humans)