Nintendo Switch Chat Thread Six(ty Four)

Dragon's Dogma better then Witcher 3 and Elden Ring

I’ll watch the opening at some point then and take it from there :lol:

OrangeRKN wrote::toot:

Not just me I'm sure! I just first played it on Switch so a lot later than when people first got excited about it.

Any fantasy rpg fans should play it. Better than Skyrim and The Witcher 3, and to look further than Switch ports, yes, it is better than Elden Ring (and notably very similar!)

What if you're put off by the complexity and depth of the likes of Skyrim... would DD be recommended for such a noob? Asking for a friend.

I just watched the SwitchUp review of the game on YouTube and it looks reassuringly retro. A bit like a deeper Fable 2... would that be a fair assessment? Again, my friend would like to know.

If you think Skyrim has depth and complexity then you may want to just stick to something like Pong!

The combat in Dragon’s Dogma is much better than either The Witcher 3 or Skyrim.

The game has a decent story but gets bogged down with some gooseberry fool dungeon sections, the game is at its best in the over world.

I wish the Switch version had the amazing opening song from the original release.

shyguy64 did a villager come to your campsite in animal crossing new horizons today.

Jenuall wrote:If you think Skyrim has depth and complexity then you may want to just stick to something like Pong!

Ouch!

Herdanos wrote:
Jenuall wrote:If you think Skyrim has depth and complexity then you may want to just stick to something like Pong!

Ouch!

Yeah sorry, that was meant more as a dig at Skyrim than you!

Fisher wrote:shyguy64 did a villager come to your campsite in animal crossing new horizons today.

nope

Balladeer wrote:To give the opposite take: I'm a fantasy RPG fan and I hated what I played of DD, which was maybe the first three hours. Ugly, clunky, poorly-written, with no signs of any atmosphere or inspiration. It's a rare game that's been critically well-received in a genre I enjoy that I could find not a single positive aspect of. I'm led to believe it gets a lot better, but I have no idea how much shite you have to slog through to get there.

It's very western rpg influenced which am I right in saying you are much more of a JRPG fan? Still, it's clearly a blend of the two. I wouldn't call it ugly, certainly no more than your Elder Scrolls or Monster Hunters of the world, but again I suspect your personal preference towards heavy stylisation is at play?

Clunk, sure, it has a lot - this is the one aspect you will need a relatively large tolerance for. It's the usual tradeoff of familiarity for interesting systems and some of those get lost in the interface. The relationship system is the perfect example of an interesting but arcane bit of design! Items are the fiddliest part, which is unfortunate as some of them are fun to experiment with, but you have to fight the controls and UI to do so. What I will say is that the clunkiest parts of the design are all optional aspects you don't really have to engage with, so the impact is very low - if you want to dive into it you can and there are rewards for doing so, but if you find things too off-putting you can safely ignore them.

What I will object to is the characterisation of it having no atmosphere or inspiration, as I found the game absolutely full of interesting and unusual ideas and design. As an RPG I think the old truth holds of 3 hours simply not being enough to get a representative experience.

OrangeRKN wrote:
Balladeer wrote:To give the opposite take: I'm a fantasy RPG fan and I hated what I played of DD, which was maybe the first three hours.

It's very western rpg influenced which am I right in saying you are much more of a JRPG fan? Still, it's clearly a blend of the two. I wouldn't call it ugly, certainly no more than your Elder Scrolls or Monster Hunters of the world, but again I suspect your personal preference towards heavy stylisation is at play?
...
What I will object to is the characterisation of it having no atmosphere or inspiration, as I found the game absolutely full of interesting and unusual ideas and design. As an RPG I think the old truth holds of 3 hours simply not being enough to get a representative experience.

I am, yes - but DD didn't exactly throw dialogue choices at me, which is my main WRPG bugbear! Just slightly dull combat and very dull environments. I definitely have a preference for stylised visuals, but I think even compared to the likes of MonHun Rise it's pretty ugly. Of course it's older, but at the same time it didn't look like it was doing anything much visually, even for the era - and it's up against games from this era for my time now.

How long would you say that you need to play the game for its atmosphere or inspiration to become evident? Without the hook of good writing or battle system or style, I struggled to push to three hours. Even RPGs need a hook early on I'd say, and I didn't think DD had that.

I'm actually really tempted...

Herdanos wrote:I'm actually really tempted...

Worth it for £8. The character creator is quite fun.

It uses an interesting twist on Dark Souls' summoning for having a party of NPCs follow you around to do your bidding.

It's obviously no way better than Skyrim, Dark Souls or The Witcher 3 all of which it rips off in some way.

Balladeer wrote:Just slightly dull combat and very dull environments ... How long would you say that you need to play the game for its atmosphere or inspiration to become evident? Without the hook of good writing or battle system or style, I struggled to push to three hours. Even RPGs need a hook early on I'd say, and I didn't think DD had that.

I'd say the combat is one of the best things about Dragon's Dogma and one of the clear things that sets it apart from the likes of Skyrim! It is however highly variable in playstyle depending on your choice of class and the skills you unlock. I reckon it's at its best as a Strider because of all the movement skills that are useful both in and out of combat and because that class is better at climbing onto enemies to attack specific weak spots - one of the game's best and most unique mechanics.

As for when the game gets going, I think fighting the Hydra should be a convincing moment, and certainly you should be enjoying it by the time you reach Gran Soren (the main city/hub).

I have never played Skyrim,Dark Souls or The Witcher. Dark Souls is a no go as it sounds like you need to actually be rather good at games to get anywhere. I am not really a "traditional" RPG player - Zelda and Fable are as close as I come, save for Pokemon and a few Poke-esque games - and I previously tried Oblivion on 360, only to choose perhaps the completely wrong character choice at the start and not get on with the game at all. I like the fact that this appears somewhat archaic, though - the simpler nature definitely appeals. I like that it's third-person, too!

OrangeRKN wrote:I'd say the combat is one of the best things about Dragon's Dogma and one of the clear things that sets it apart from the likes of Skyrim! It is however highly variable in playstyle depending on your choice of class and the skills you unlock. I reckon it's at its best as a Strider because of all the movement skills that are useful both in and out of combat and because that class is better at climbing onto enemies to attack specific weak spots - one of the game's best and most unique mechanics.

I think I was a Strider! :slol:

But basically I only fought the tutorial chimera and the cyclops where you could climb them. The chimera fight was a mess that I just seemed to win anyway, and I think I did climb the cyclops but it did nothing for me. After which, and about twenty minutes completing some slightly tedious pawn training quests, I decided it probably wasn't for me.

shyguy64 did you sell bugs in animal crossing new horizons today.

Fisher wrote:shyguy64 did you sell bugs in animal crossing new horizons today.

nope

I have purchased Dragon's Dogma :slol:

Pretty good timing really, as I'm looking for something new to play.

Herdanos wrote:I have purchased Dragon's Dogma Pretty good timing really, as I'm looking for something new to play.

...nice one, Dan! It seems to be a pretty quirky adventure; be cool to hear what you think of it.

Nintendo Switch Chat Thread Six(ty Four)

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