I only played the first Dragon's Dogma for about 2 hours, but I liked the game concept and I really enjoyed the animated series on Netflix. While I'm not a fan of the franchise yet, I was excited for Dragon's Dogma 2. I didn't pre-order it and since it came out the day with another game I couldn't wait to play, I decided against Dragon's Dogma 2 at first. Then the negative news hit and I was happy about my decision. I still was curious, so I downloaded the character editor and created my arisen and pawn. This already got me hooked. When I read that some mods were available rendering the microtransactions unnecessary, I almost was convinced to buy the game. But since I was still busy playing the other game, I wanted to wait a little longer. Then I got a special deal, where I got the game for half the price and also the first patch was released adressing some of the issues, so I couldn't resist anymore.

I only wanted to play for about an hour, to see if the game is good and then return to the other game, which really has me hooked. But the hour turned into 8 hours, because Dragon's Dogma 2 got me hooked pretty good as well. The game is way better than the reviews set my expectations to.

There are still some issues that need to be adressed and it doesn't completely use the full potential the Unreal Engine can provide yet. So there are some frame drops and longer loading times, but I'm playing it with a pretty good rig and some mods that adress some of the issues until it's fixed by the developers and I can really enjoy it. From what I can tell in comparison to the first Dragon's Dogma, there have been some major improvements. The pawns are just a great addition in the game, even if they have some really repetitive lines and can be annoying at times. But when they do unintended things, this is just adding to the experience instead of making it worse.

And the game is so extremely aesthetic. Visually it's one of the best games I've ever played and while I'm not completely fixed on optics, it does a lot for the overall rating. The atmosphere and environmental storytelling, the story itself are amazing and I do enjoy the core gameplay mechanics a lot. One thing that bugs me a little though is the class limitation. While you can switch the class in game for your arisen as well as your pawn, you can't multiclass. I really would like to fend off enemies with the sword if they come too close, while I'm primarily a sorcerer, since I do like the idea of battle mages. This also adds the limitation of equipment, since you can't equip the nice looking gear of a fighter and need to stick with robes. There are some good looking armors, but they are expensive. Luckily there's also a transmog mod, where you can exchange the visuals of an equipment for another. So you can keep the visuals for the gear, while also keeping the balance.

I was lucky to get the game for half the price, but I can absolutely recommend it for full price as well.