Dragon's Dogma 2 is a wonderful sequel to the original that succeeds in just about every department but unfortunately falls short in some ways. If Steam had a "Mixed" option I still would side with Positive here, but I wouldn't give the game a rating over 8.5/10.

The exploration, combat and aesthetic overall is a substantial improvement to the original, and I don't think it's at all fair to compare this game to Dark Arisen, as Dark Arisen was not the "base" model of Dragon's Dogma. While yes, this game does lack content that does not appear in Dark Arisen, it's important to remember that the original Dragon's Dogma also lacked this content. Unfortunately the story and traveling parts of the game still suffer from a myriad of issues, while yes Dragon's Dogma's story length is fine, it feels a bit disjointed and random at times, which can be confusing. I think the length is perfectly fine, not every game needs a 40 hour story, but I wish the story was more smooth and less rough around the edges. The traveling in the game is also a bit obnoxious as it lacks quality of life that absolutely should have been implemented such as having less or no loss of stamina outside of combat when traveling.

The exploration in this game is still genuinely amazing, while yes not every single location is unique in every way, they still tell great environmental storytelling and enrich the player in the world, it's one of a very select few of games that I feel truly makes the player feel like they are actually in the game. The combat and aesthetic also contribute to this, the combat is rich, difficult but also easing in that it rewards players for being tactical and choosing their moves carefully. It rewards the player for being observant of enemy behavior but it also punishes the player for being ignorant and underestimating the enemy. The combat is very in-depth and there are dozens of paths the player can take with the class system, whether you choose to be a Warrior and head the Vanguard with three support Pawns, or choose to be a Sorcerer in the back while your Melee Pawns head the Vanguard, there is a myriad of ways to approach this games combat system. It's probably one of the most rewarding and satisfying combat systems I've ever engaged with, nothing will beat the feeling of slamming a uppercut into a griffin with a two handed sword and just *feeling* the blade connect with it's neck in your controller and then watching it stumble to the ground.

Dragon's Dogma 2 might be one of the first games of all time to really nail the "Dungeons & Dragon's" aesthetic, and I say this with the upmost confidence. The game feels like it's built around Dungeons & Dragons but it's done in a way that is refreshing and unique, and doesn't just feel like it's copying the concept. Traveling through the dirty streets of Vermund, fighting a Wyrm that you stumbled upon in the forest, and exploring the deep caverns and dungeons hidden in Dragon's Dogma 2 is just a handful of the experiences that this game offers, and it really nails the Dungeons & Dragons vibe and aesthetic in a way that I don't think any game ever has.

I'll touch on the microtransactions and performance issues a bit here, but I won't elaborate on them a ton since it's a discussion that has been had to death. The microtransactions in this game are vastly misunderstood, they are one time purchase shortcut items and every single one of them (beyond the "true" DLC like the Dark Arisen music tracks) can be obtained in-game with relative ease. There is no reason why this game received a below 50% rating for shortcut DLC that both the original Dragon's Dogma had, and almost every CAPCOM game for the past decade and a half.

As far as the performance issues go, yes it is absolutely unacceptable that this game runs badly for some people, it's one of my main issues with this game, but the game is so damn good that it really doesn't bother my experience that much. I implore those who stopped playing after an hour or two to really give this game another try if you can hit 30 fps. It's a wonderful experience, even with the performance issues, and while yes it is unacceptable, it's not the end of the world.