Recent reviews by Kaoshi[San]™

Note:
This isn’t just a general review of Dragon’s Dogma 2, but rather a comparison from the perspective of a longtime fan of the original Dragon’s Dogma and its expanded version, Dark Arisen. If you're wondering how DD2 stacks up to its predecessor in terms of mechanics, design, and overall feel — especially for veterans of the first game — this breakdown is for you.

As someone who’s been with Dragon’s Dogma since the original release (base DD) and has bought it around seven times across different systems and storefronts, I’d say Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen is vastly superior — aside from DD2 having a bigger world and better graphics, which seems to be what some modern gamers care about when judging whether a game is “great.”

Now, I’m not saying DD2 is a bad game — it has its strengths — but a lot of the smaller technical and gameplay details were either toned down or removed entirely, and those are what gave the original its depth. A few key examples:

Character Creation:
While DD2 features enhanced visuals and more fluid sliders, you're restricted to preset heads and can’t individually select features like eyes, noses, or mouths like you could in DD1. This makes character faces feel a bit more “template” than in the first game.

DD1 also allowed for more expressive character builds — particularly when it came to creating shorter characters, letting you roleplay as children, dwarves, or goblin-like humanoids. DD2 does expand the maximum height range (taller characters are now possible), but it came at the cost of other key features — like a wider variety of hairstyles, facial features, and more modular body types. The original still offered more flexibility and creativity despite being the older game.

Pawn Customization:
The Pawn AI system was also much deeper in DD1. You could use the Knowledge Chair to customize how your pawn behaved — their aggression, support preferences, even how often they talked.
You could also choose specific combat voice lines for them, adding more personality and control. This feature is completely gone in DD2.

Armor and Equipment:
In Dragon’s Dogma 1, the armor system was more intricate. Gear was layered across multiple equipment slots, including separate slots for Head, Torso, Arms, Legs, Cloaks, and Jewelry. There were also Outfits — special armor sets that occupied all armor slots except for the cloak. This allowed for a wide variety of combinations, both mechanically and visually.

DD2 simplifies this by reducing equipment slots, resulting in less visual and mechanical variety in outfitting your character.

Combat:
Combat in DD1 felt snappier and more responsive. DD2’s slower animations and weighty feel make everything more grounded — but less fun, especially for dagger or fast melee users.

Warrior is probably the one class that was greatly improved in every way possible.

Skills and Spells:
You could equip more skills. DD1 gave you six active skills: three for light/heavy attack modifiers and three for button-assigned skills.
DD2 cuts that down to four, limiting build diversity.

Spells could be aimed manually, letting you choose exactly where and how they cast — placing a fire wall(Comestion) at a distance, or spawning a tornado(Maelstrom) in just the right spot. DD2 mostly locks you into casting directly in front of your character or where the camera’s pointing, reducing tactical options.

DD1 also offered a bigger variety of spells between Mage and Sorcerer.

DD1 also had passive skills tied to vocations, and even certain unique attack variants depending on how you timed your inputs (e.g. delaying dagger inputs gave you spinning kicks — great against enemies weak to blunt damage like skeletons). DD2 removed most of that depth.

Empty Flasks:
Flasks were another great feature in DD1. You could collect oil or water from vases, healing springs, or puddles and use them strategically — dousing enemies in oil and igniting them, or using spring water to heal allies mid-combat.
You could even coat yourself or allies to prevent burning.

In DD2, while the world still has some oil/water containers, trying to use them is often clunky — your character will fumble, trip, or get interrupted before actually using them.
(I’m glad there’s a mod that removes unintentional movement.)

Stat Growth System:
DD1 used a vocation-based stat growth system. The class you played as influenced your level-up stats, which gave your build a distinct identity and encouraged planning.
It wasn’t a perfect system, but it felt more RPG-like.

DD2 ditches this in favor of a flat stat progression model. While this avoids potential "build traps," it also removes an element of RPG depth.
Honestly, I think a point-allocation system would've been the best middle ground for both games.

Endgame:
I’ve seen many people criticize The Everfall in DD1, but in all honesty, I think it functioned better as an endgame dungeon than DD2’s Unmoored World.

People seem to forget that DD1’s entire world also changes in the post-game — the sky darkens, enemy encounters shift dramatically, and the tension ramps up across the map.

The Everfall itself had a unique layout and variety, and it was complemented by the Ur-Dragon, a world boss with online interaction that encouraged global player cooperation.

Compare that to DD2’s Unmoored World, which just slaps a red filter over everything and ramps up enemy density. Visually and thematically, DD1 handled its post-game better — it had atmosphere and a creeping sense of dread, not just higher difficulty.

Dark Arisen Expansion:
Let’s not forget that Capcom added Bitterblack Isle to all of that — one of the best-designed additions in action RPG history, bringing with it new challenges, powerful equipment, and additional ways to improve your skills.
Everyone who’s played it knows how good it is, so I won’t even elaborate further.

For me, Dragon’s Dogma (both the base game and Dark Arisen) remains my favorite game of all time.
I’ve put over 2,000 hours into it (PS3) and earned the Platinum trophy for both base DD and DA on two different PSN accounts.
Honestly, I’m a little ashamed I barely touched it on PC.

As for DD2 — I don’t hate it, but it’s not the sequel I was hoping for. The graphics are beautiful, and the vistas can be breathtaking, but that’s about all it brings to the table when you compare it to the original.
And I say that as someone who really wanted to love it.

Bigger worlds and shinier graphics don’t make a better game — not when the soul of the original is missing.


~And yes I ran this through chatGPT cause my original was kind of a mess if posted as if.

Day 1 purchase as promised from playing the demo previously, game feels even better now!
counters feels more fluid now even though I liked it before, I remember some players complaining about it, so if you're one of those this time you might enjoy it!