i9 11900k, 3080 RTX, 32 RAM.


So far 9 crashes. Fps goes from 60 everywhere, combat included to 35 in cities. Not unplayable, but extremely annoying, I'd advise to hold off on purchase till they patch it. Hence "not recommended" review.
Also, microtransactions in single player is a bad move. I will always be opposed to that. Even though in case of DD2 MTX are completely worthless in the literal sense and you should not buy those or even let them influence your opinion on the game.

Overall this game is not bad by any means, it is fairly alright, just very disappointing. A lot of steps have been taken back from the previous game, a lot of lessons completely forgotten and the same mistakes have been made again. Certain things feel very unfinished.




+Fun combat, pretty fluid and has decent variety of interactions. Not only you can chain together certain abilities, you can also climb enemies, attack their weak points to break off certain parts or disable their specific attacks. Oil barrels, explosive barrels, poison barrels, stone blocks, ice blocks, etc etc. There is a lot of ways you can interact with enemies.

+Vocations are pretty distinct. Each one has specific weapon only it can use as well as different vocation specific mechanics. Such as thief having dodge button, fighter being able to block, mystic spear hand having access to teleport, etc.

+Gear variety and design. Visually it all looks great, absolutely superb designs. Artists did great job here.

+Pawn system. They are hilarious, effective, customisable, interactive and pretty much the best part of this entire game. I care about my pawn way more than about my own character.

+Graphics is pretty alright. Very crisp, good lighting, even though might be not the the most modern.

+Character creator is pretty good. Downside is that it is still a hybrid between slider and preset based and preset part brings it down. Facial scans was not the best decision tbh. Skin has innate tones which you may have to counter with different pigments like blue. Face type affects: eye shape, jaw shape, nose shape, mouth shape. If you don't like either of those - too bad, can't change them. Have to pick entirely different face type. It's more of a mixed bag here, hair styles are also abysmal. But still for the most part gets things right.



-Enemy variety is extremely low. Humans, goblins, lizards, chimera, cyclope, ogre, minotaur, medusa, drake. That's pretty much it?

-Story is very bad. Somehow worse than in Dragon's Dogma 1. DD1 at least had interesting themes, here it's just so meh. I finished every single side quest too and most of them have pretty much no story telling value.

-Wyrmforging gear adds super obnoxious ripples effect on armor, making it look terrible. I have no idea how this even got approved. If you have eyes, you straight up can tell it looks bad.

-Dragonsplague is disappointing. Obnoxious, leads to 1 cutscene with no interactivity. Adds nothing of value to the game aside from the fact you gonna dismiss pawns more often just to cleanse them.

-Scars on pawns. Your pawn can get scars during combat and to get rid of those, be ready to visit hot springs often. Again, just more tedium, adds nothing of value to the game. Plus you can add scars in CC already, so doubly pointless and annoying.

-No real endgame/post game. It's kinda sorta somewhat here, but is super limited and again, Dragon's Dogma 1 somehow did it much better.

-Mage/Sorcerer gameplay is extremely underwhelming and reduction of spell variety did hurt those two a lot. Also can't quick cast when levitating. Why?

-Balance is a bit scuffed, skills and sprint cost way too much stamina. Enjoy slow walking.

-DENUVO

i9 11900k, 3080 RTX, 32 RAM. So far 9 crashes. Fps goes from 60 everywhere, combat included to 35 in cities. Not unplayable, but extremely annoying, I'd advise to hold off on purchase till they patch it. Hence "not recommended" review. Also, microtransactions in single player is a bad move. I will always be opposed to that. Even though in case of DD2 MTX are completely worthless in the literal sense and you should not buy those or even let them influence your opinion on the game. Overall this game is not bad by any means, it is fairly alright, just very disappointing. A lot of steps have been taken back from the previous game, a lot of lessons completely forgotten and the same mistakes have been made again. Certain things feel very unfinished. +Fun combat, pretty fluid and has decent variety of interactions. Not only you can chain together certain abilities, you can also climb enemies, attack their weak points to break off certain parts or disable their specific attacks. Oil barrels, explosive barrels, poison barrels, stone blocks, ice blocks, etc etc. There is a lot of ways you can interact with enemies. +Vocations are pretty distinct. Each one has specific weapon only it can use as well as different vocation specific mechanics. Such as thief having dodge button, fighter being able to block, mystic spear hand having access to teleport, etc. +Gear variety and design. Visually it all looks great, absolutely superb designs. Artists did great job here. +Pawn system. They are hilarious, effective, customisable, interactive and pretty much the best part of this entire game. I care about my pawn way more than about my own character. +Graphics is pretty alright. Very crisp, good lighting, even though might be not the the most modern. +Character creator is pretty good. Downside is that it is still a hybrid between slider and preset based and preset part brings it down. Facial scans was not the best decision tbh. Skin has innate tones which you may have to counter with different pigments like blue. Face type affects: eye shape, jaw shape, nose shape, mouth shape. If you don't like either of those - too bad, can't change them. Have to pick entirely different face type. It's more of a mixed bag here, hair styles are also abysmal. But still for the most part gets things right. -Enemy variety is extremely low. Humans, goblins, lizards, chimera, cyclope, ogre, minotaur, medusa, drake. That's pretty much it? -Story is very bad. Somehow worse than in Dragon's Dogma 1. DD1 at least had interesting themes, here it's just so meh. I finished every single side quest too and most of them have pretty much no story telling value. -Wyrmforging gear adds super obnoxious ripples effect on armor, making it look terrible. I have no idea how this even got approved. If you have eyes, you straight up can tell it looks bad. -Dragonsplague is disappointing. Obnoxious, leads to 1 cutscene with no interactivity. Adds nothing of value to the game aside from the fact you gonna dismiss pawns more often just to cleanse them. -Scars on pawns. Your pawn can get scars during combat and to get rid of those, be ready to visit hot springs often. Again, just more tedium, adds nothing of value to the game. Plus you can add scars in CC already, so doubly pointless and annoying. -No real endgame/post game. It's kinda sorta somewhat here, but is super limited and again, Dragon's Dogma 1 somehow did it much better. -Mage/Sorcerer gameplay is extremely underwhelming and reduction of spell variety did hurt those two a lot. Also can't quick cast when levitating. Why? -Balance is a bit scuffed, skills and sprint cost way too much stamina. Enjoy slow walking. -DENUVO