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Dragon's Dogma 2 only had 1/4 of the people credited for working on the game compared to the last few titles by Capcom

KyoZz

Tag, you're it.
Dragons-Dogma-2-Artwork-001-1280x720.jpg


Update (2024-04-09 11:40 JST): After looking into topic further, we have confirmed that different endings in Dragon’s Dogma 2 display different end credits, and that over 1,000 staff members can be seen credited depending on ending.
This is a lot more than the initially reported figure.



Source [here]

Dragon's Dogma 2 with 392 people:

image.png


And some other titles by Capcom: Resident Evil 4 had 1 516 people, SF6 1847 people and even Devil May Cry 5, the latest game by Itsuno, had 1252 employees working on the game. Those numbers really help to make things in perspective and while not perfect, Dragon's Dogma 2 is a great achievement in my opinion.

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The dev started in the middle of covid (so only 4 years of development time including 3 while COVID was there, I don't know if we realize the shitshow). On that you had those MTX that killed the hype at the release of the game and it's almost like Capcom wanted this game to fail.

Thanks to this Reddit post for pointing this out. I'm almost 90 hours into it and haven't finished the game yet. I'm taking my time to see everything I can because exploring is really fun and the sandbox elements are working very well. Unfortunately, we feel that this was much more ambitious than the team could achieve. Let's hope Capcom will support the game, I would love an expansion like Dark Arisen.

Later on the Reddit post, someone counted the credit and it's even more telling:

Total 383:
Itsuno: 1
Producers: 3
Directors: 8
Writers: 5
English Voice Cast: 36
Japanese Voice Cast: 37

game designers: 19
Level Designers: 4
Programmers: 71
Network & Server Engineers: 5
Concept Artists: 29
Animators: 15
Environment Artists: 17
UI Designers: 12
VFX Artists: 18
Gimmick & Lighting Artists: 11
Technical Artists: 11
Rigging Artists: 11
Localization: 11
Vendor & Project Managers: 16
Sound Designers: 14
Composers & Sound Programmers/Engineers/Designers: 14
Production Managers: 5
Cinematics and Facial Animators: 11
Motion Capture Actors: 13

73 people just for the voice cast.


So after reading a few comments I feel like this needs to be brought in. If anyone wants more context, here is a great summary taken from this comment:

I've been following Dragon's Dogma's development and financial history pretty avidly from square 1, and this is fairly accurate. Bit of a history rant/textwall, for posterity and the newcomers:

Capcom half-assed DD1's budget, especially on marketing, basically expecting the game to sell itself because they thought it would follow the Skyrim hype-train. It was designed specifically for the western market, with little heed to domestic sales being given. If memory serves, they either spent as little as physically possible on marketing, or literally none at all.

Zero dollars. For the most important part of selling a game. Yeah.

For the record the only way I found out about DD1 was seeing a copy on a GameStop shelf and trying the demo on a complete whim.

What's even more hilarious is that in spite of this, Capcom's projected sales number was 10 million fucking units sold across a few years. "Out of touch" doesn't even begin to describe it.

In spite of this colossal misestimation of how a functional business is run, DD1 does better than expected, after reality set in. Sells better than any game that never got so much as a banner ad has any right to, purely through a cult fanbase and good word-of-mouth.

This allows Dark Arisen to release to much acclaim, and an extremely well-polished PC port sells astoundingly well, paving the way to next-gen releases & proving to Capcom that this game does have a market, and the "gacha-lite" approach they took with Rift Crystals/Bitterblack Gear puts dollar-signs in their eyes. This is the beginning of the end.

A couple years later, Capcom produces Dragon's Dogma Online, exclusively for their domestic market (yeah that market that the series was never designed for, catered to, or able to secure strong sales in) and it's a trainwreck.

Content is spread thin. The game is visually and mechanically dated, using DD1's engine with most of the assets ripped, meaning that graphics, gameplay, animation and such are all vanilla - this does not compete well with better-aged and emerging MMOs on the market. Also, if you thought vocations having their identity narrowed down in DD2 was bad, DDON would have caused a fucking aneurism for how poorly they handled the exact same thing.

Gacha, pay-to-win, a mobile game-esque "energy" mechanic where you have to pay IRL money for health potions, with extreme limitations on getting your own in-game (and you WILL take a shitload of damage). EDIT: I may have been misinformed about this aspect - as u/jiitit mentions below, my personal experiences with this aspect of the game may have been inaccurate. I'd also like to clarify that I was trying to refer to health pot-throttling as fulfilling the same function as "energy" mechanics - that is, gating a vital resource for continuation of the game - but phrased it poorly. As mentioned, however, other users felt that this was not an issue, so I'm happy to assume my experience was not representative of the whole. I'll leave it as strikethrough text as I have no way to verify, but take my statement on this one with a grain of salt.

Worst of all, they completely stonewalled the market where the game had a chance to thrive, region locking it and IP-blocking the game, necessitating a Japanese VPN that makes playing an action game absolute hell due to lag.

I doubt this was just fear of commercial failure, but rather I suspect either:

A) They were afraid they wouldn't be able to sell the gacha/p2w mechanics to a western audience (this was probably true at the time, as the culture was much more hypercritical of money-gouging in video games) or possibly

B) Someone with enough clout at Capcom was dealing with some insecurities and insisted on trying to secure domestic success with the IP as a matter of personal pride. No, I am not joking - you would be shocked just how many cash-cow eastern game releases are shot dead behind the barn, purely because of nationalistic egocentrism and poor business acumen. Pride is the murderer of industry.

Still, the support of the Japanese market and more rabidly devoted western fans manages to garner enough success to get ongoing support and some expansion content for the game, but ultimately not enough to secure its lifeline - and 4 years later, at the close of 2019, DDON shuts down for good.

In all likelihood, the game's failure is likely blamed on developer scapegoats instead of the pants-on-head morons staffing Capcom's publishing sector, because fuck working for Japanese publishers (or game publishers in general, really, if you can help it).

All this history lesson leading up to now with Dragon's Dogma 2.

I fully believe the budgeting and time allotment for DD2 was influenced heavily by Capcom's poor financing, marketing, and publishing decisions made with the IP over the last decade, in conjunction with an inability for executives and upper management to take personal accountability, instead foisting that burden on the developers. Chances are, most of the community's gripes with DD2 stem from choices made by legitimately incompetent publishers, coasting on the successes of talented developers while throttling their budget and devtime, with the devs themselves legally having their mouths duct-taped shut.

Remember - these devs need that budget money to afford groceries, and in all likelihood many of them are probably crunched to fuck while still getting underpaid for the sake of passion and a love for the IPs that can legally only be developed under Capcom, while being promised bonuses to sell the points Capcom wants to be the selling points.

Itsuno had to literally threaten to walk on the company he'd been with for years just to make DMC5 and DD2 happen at all. I don't doubt he's busted his ass off for his team and his passions, and I can't imagine how much shit Capcom's devteams have had to shovel while trying to deal with the company's circus act. I'm not going to simp for the guy because I don't know him, but I do fully believe in the notion of "holding the right people accountable", and Capcom's lack of personal regard or financial acumen have been constant since the beginning.

Frankly, I'm not confident Capcom is going to be any smarter about this considering how chronically they fuck this up, no matter how well a DD game performs. I honestly think they could pull Skyrim sales numbers and still somehow trip on their own shadow.

We used to call em Crapcom for a reason - they were considered as bad as EA, Ubisoft, Activision, etc. in their time, and when they had their little "come to Jesus moment" PR campaign around Monster Hunter World's release, trying to clean up their image, I knew full well they wouldn't be able to keep their hands outta the cookie jar for long. And here we are.
 
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Klosshufvud

Member
This data isn't conclusive. And even if it was, it makes it all the more scummy that Capcom charged $70 and destroyed it with microtransactions. And it makes Itsuno's statements pre-launch all the more deceiving and false how he claimed this game had everything and was the intended DD. You can't have your cake and eat it too. If these credits are true (I doubt it) it means Capcom tricked us all.
 

IAmRei

Member
This data isn't conclusive. And even if it was, it makes it all the more scummy that Capcom charged $70 and destroyed it with microtransactions. And it makes Itsuno's statements pre-launch all the more deceiving and false how he claimed this game had everything and was the intended DD. You can't have your cake and eat it too. If these credits are true (I doubt it) it means Capcom tricked us all.
MHW also have the mtx, and the mtx on dragon dogma is not even required to play, just an option. You can get the item sold like two hours from sthe start. Its an option. And the game is same designed like the first.and the game itself have some improvement from the first.
 

Fabieter

Member
This data isn't conclusive. And even if it was, it makes it all the more scummy that Capcom charged $70 and destroyed it with microtransactions. And it makes Itsuno's statements pre-launch all the more deceiving and false how he claimed this game had everything and was the intended DD. You can't have your cake and eat it too. If these credits are true (I doubt it) it means Capcom tricked us all.

What does a 60 or 70 bucks game need to be "fair"?
 

KyoZz

Tag, you're it.
This data isn't conclusive. And even if it was, it makes it all the more scummy that Capcom charged $70 and destroyed it with microtransactions. And it makes Itsuno's statements pre-launch all the more deceiving and false how he claimed this game had everything and was the intended DD. You can't have your cake and eat it too. If these credits are true (I doubt it) it means Capcom tricked us all.
I mean Itsuno is not gonna kill his game before it even release. Can't publicly state "Capcom screwed us with a team too small!" for obvious contractual reasons. Of course he's gonna sell his game (and the end product is awesome imo).
And those credits are from the Steam version, they will differ a bit on consoles because of porting reasons but it won't be by much. You can verify this by yourself.

Also as I said I clocked almost 90 hours in and I'm not done with the game, so why this one should't be sold at $70 when far shorter games are doing this pricetag?

Anyone mad about those optional microtransactions is crazy, there is nothing there that needs to be purchased they are just for people who want to take some short cuts.
Precisely. People are mad because of how Capcom added them day one by surprise and how they go against the vision of the team. Not many TP and fast travel is by purpose, letting you buy Portcrystals is a shitty move that kills many part of the game and you can be sure Itsuno is against them. Those MTX are for lazy people who don't really want to play the game, which make them even worse. Don't put MTX in a single player game and yeah I know it's Capcom and look at MH or DMC or RE. It's shit on all of them and if it took DD2 for the general audience to wake up, so be it. Better late than never.
 

Shut0wen

Banned
Simple though, DD had a much longer time compared to games like re4 that could of been finished almost 2 years ago but was indefinitely delayed as it changed developers, apparently the team making it was the re3 team and made another half assed job before capcom used there noggin and thought fuck we cant do an re3 job on this
 

lh032

I cry about Xbox and hate PlayStation.
they probably removed those that designed the enemies models
That explains the sad enemy variety in this game.
 
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TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Seems like Capcom still doesn't have any faith on this IP's potential.

DD2 is an amazing game that could have still been much more than what it is. Maybe third time's the charm?

I hope we get a DLC like Dark Arisen at least.
 

Majukun

Member
Anyone mad about those optional microtransactions is crazy, there is nothing there that needs to be purchased they are just for people who want to take some short cuts.

money for stuff you can acquire in game is the definition of MTX

by saying that they are just shortcuts you are not saying anything new,they are still BS that has no place in a single player game, a fee for no service

and in dragon's dogma they are even worse because they betray the design phylosophy of the game for money
 
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Klosshufvud

Member
What does a 60 or 70 bucks game need to be "fair"?
The price hike is obviously justified with higher costs of production. If DD2 was made by a way smaller team on a shorter deadline, then that price hike is just greed and nothing more. And Itsuno's statements pre launch were just lies.
 

KyoZz

Tag, you're it.
As I mentioned in the OT, this list is incomplete, it doesn't list any studio and technology partners, QA or orchestra like the others do; even the first game lists more than 600 people that way.
I couldn't find anything to corroborate this, do you have a source that I could edit in the OP? That's really weird because the number I provide is directly counted from the credits of the game.

Maybe it was a smaller team? Hence why it took so long? 🤷‍♂️
Well it did not take long, that's the point. 4 years to develop a game like this is not that much at all, it's not 2010 anymore when 4 years was a good dev cycle. And then you add, on top of this, COVID and the fact that it was a small team. Doesn't look like it was ideal nor they had the correct support by Capcom.

If anyone wants more context, here is a great summary taken from this comment. I did not want to include this at first but after all, why not:

I've been following Dragon's Dogma's development and financial history pretty avidly from square 1, and this is fairly accurate. Bit of a history rant/textwall, for posterity and the newcomers:

Capcom half-assed DD1's budget, especially on marketing, basically expecting the game to sell itself because they thought it would follow the Skyrim hype-train. It was designed specifically for the western market, with little heed to domestic sales being given. If memory serves, they either spent as little as physically possible on marketing, or literally none at all.

Zero dollars. For the most important part of selling a game. Yeah.

For the record the only way I found out about DD1 was seeing a copy on a GameStop shelf and trying the demo on a complete whim.

What's even more hilarious is that in spite of this, Capcom's projected sales number was 10 million fucking units sold across a few years. "Out of touch" doesn't even begin to describe it.

In spite of this colossal misestimation of how a functional business is run, DD1 does better than expected, after reality set in. Sells better than any game that never got so much as a banner ad has any right to, purely through a cult fanbase and good word-of-mouth.

This allows Dark Arisen to release to much acclaim, and an extremely well-polished PC port sells astoundingly well, paving the way to next-gen releases & proving to Capcom that this game does have a market, and the "gacha-lite" approach they took with Rift Crystals/Bitterblack Gear puts dollar-signs in their eyes. This is the beginning of the end.

A couple years later, Capcom produces Dragon's Dogma Online, exclusively for their domestic market (yeah that market that the series was never designed for, catered to, or able to secure strong sales in) and it's a trainwreck.

Content is spread thin. The game is visually and mechanically dated, using DD1's engine with most of the assets ripped, meaning that graphics, gameplay, animation and such are all vanilla - this does not compete well with better-aged and emerging MMOs on the market. Also, if you thought vocations having their identity narrowed down in DD2 was bad, DDON would have caused a fucking aneurism for how poorly they handled the exact same thing.

Gacha, pay-to-win, a mobile game-esque "energy" mechanic where you have to pay IRL money for health potions, with extreme limitations on getting your own in-game (and you WILL take a shitload of damage). EDIT: I may have been misinformed about this aspect - as u/jiitit mentions below, my personal experiences with this aspect of the game may have been inaccurate. I'd also like to clarify that I was trying to refer to health pot-throttling as fulfilling the same function as "energy" mechanics - that is, gating a vital resource for continuation of the game - but phrased it poorly. As mentioned, however, other users felt that this was not an issue, so I'm happy to assume my experience was not representative of the whole. I'll leave it as strikethrough text as I have no way to verify, but take my statement on this one with a grain of salt.

Worst of all, they completely stonewalled the market where the game had a chance to thrive, region locking it and IP-blocking the game, necessitating a Japanese VPN that makes playing an action game absolute hell due to lag.

I doubt this was just fear of commercial failure, but rather I suspect either:

A) They were afraid they wouldn't be able to sell the gacha/p2w mechanics to a western audience (this was probably true at the time, as the culture was much more hypercritical of money-gouging in video games) or possibly

B) Someone with enough clout at Capcom was dealing with some insecurities and insisted on trying to secure domestic success with the IP as a matter of personal pride. No, I am not joking - you would be shocked just how many cash-cow eastern game releases are shot dead behind the barn, purely because of nationalistic egocentrism and poor business acumen. Pride is the murderer of industry.

Still, the support of the Japanese market and more rabidly devoted western fans manages to garner enough success to get ongoing support and some expansion content for the game, but ultimately not enough to secure its lifeline - and 4 years later, at the close of 2019, DDON shuts down for good.

In all likelihood, the game's failure is likely blamed on developer scapegoats instead of the pants-on-head morons staffing Capcom's publishing sector, because fuck working for Japanese publishers (or game publishers in general, really, if you can help it).

All this history lesson leading up to now with Dragon's Dogma 2.

I fully believe the budgeting and time allotment for DD2 was influenced heavily by Capcom's poor financing, marketing, and publishing decisions made with the IP over the last decade, in conjunction with an inability for executives and upper management to take personal accountability, instead foisting that burden on the developers. Chances are, most of the community's gripes with DD2 stem from choices made by legitimately incompetent publishers, coasting on the successes of talented developers while throttling their budget and devtime, with the devs themselves legally having their mouths duct-taped shut.

Remember - these devs need that budget money to afford groceries, and in all likelihood many of them are probably crunched to fuck while still getting underpaid for the sake of passion and a love for the IPs that can legally only be developed under Capcom, while being promised bonuses to sell the points Capcom wants to be the selling points.

Itsuno had to literally threaten to walk on the company he'd been with for years just to make DMC5 and DD2 happen at all. I don't doubt he's busted his ass off for his team and his passions, and I can't imagine how much shit Capcom's devteams have had to shovel while trying to deal with the company's circus act. I'm not going to simp for the guy because I don't know him, but I do fully believe in the notion of "holding the right people accountable", and Capcom's lack of personal regard or financial acumen have been constant since the beginning.

Frankly, I'm not confident Capcom is going to be any smarter about this considering how chronically they fuck this up, no matter how well a DD game performs. I honestly think they could pull Skyrim sales numbers and still somehow trip on their own shadow.

We used to call em Crapcom for a reason - they were considered as bad as EA, Ubisoft, Activision, etc. in their time, and when they had their little "come to Jesus moment" PR campaign around Monster Hunter World's release, trying to clean up their image, I knew full well they wouldn't be able to keep their hands outta the cookie jar for long. And here we are.
 
I couldn't find anything to corroborate this, do you have a source that I could edit in the OP? That's really weird because the number I provide is directly counted from the credits of the game.
There's nothing to "corroborate" obviously, you have to look at the style of credits reported, there's no studio/technology partners or QA teams listed at all, which is just straight up impossible, so it's incomplete in the sense that it doesn't list the things the others do. The way credits are reported is also not some set in stone rule, every studio/publisher does it differently.
Look at any ubisoft title for instance, they list 7000 people worked on fc6, which is a big LOL, they just list every single thing that touched it. (including thanks and special thanks and babies born etc.)
Same with Modern warfare III, 9000 people, which is just nonsense, but they too list every single thing that touched it, including non-developers like someone in HR at a technology partner lol.

But again, not having QA teams or technology partners for a game like this is impossible, all this lists is a bunch of in-house developers, and voice acting.
 
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Fabieter

Member
The price hike is obviously justified with higher costs of production. If DD2 was made by a way smaller team on a shorter deadline, then that price hike is just greed and nothing more. And Itsuno's statements pre launch were just lies.

Its just the new Standard. You don't want pricing to be linked to budgets. 2k CEO thinks that pricing of gta vi needs to be way higher than current aaa games. Pricing is fine 100%.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
I dont care about the $70 price tag. i spent 35 hours in the game. its good enough.

the problem i have is that the single player campaign feels half baked and very indie like. you have maybe 3 cutscenes in the game that are mocapped with people acting and talking. the rest are npcs standing around.

you also have just one mission that feels like a story mission with its own objectives and markers. the rest is simply going from one place in the world to another. most open world games have dedicated dungeons and areas for story missions.

i think they needed more people to flesh out this game. it seems like they had just enough devs to create an open world, fill it with enemies, update the combat system from the first game, and call it a day. its not about money, its about quality.
 
This data isn't conclusive. And even if it was, it makes it all the more scummy that Capcom charged $70 and destroyed it with microtransactions. And it makes Itsuno's statements pre-launch all the more deceiving and false how he claimed this game had everything and was the intended DD. You can't have your cake and eat it too. If these credits are true (I doubt it) it means Capcom tricked us all.
This is complete nonsense. Capcom can charge whatever they want for the product they put out. If it's too expensive, then don't buy it. You aren't entitled to it at the price you see fit.

Shit happens during game development. Games hardly EVER turn out how they were originally intended.
 

Sentenza

Member
It kinda shows in the final result.
The game feels half-baked as a sequel and barely an improvement over the first (which was already notorious for being a coitus interruptus).
 
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Dr. Claus

Banned
This data isn't conclusive. And even if it was, it makes it all the more scummy that Capcom charged $70
Why? It is worth 70 dollars for the content on offer.

and destroyed it with microtransactions.
The Micro-transactions have no bearing on the fundamentals of the game.

And it makes Itsuno's statements pre-launch all the more deceiving and false how he claimed this game had everything and was the intended DD.
It does. He never lied.

You can't have your cake and eat it too. If these credits are true (I doubt it) it means Capcom tricked us all.
Have you even played the game?

Seems like Capcom still doesn't have any faith on this IP's potential.

DD2 is an amazing game that could have still been much more than what it is. Maybe third time's the charm?

I hope we get a DLC like Dark Arisen at least.
Still easily my second favorite game of the year, right behind FF7Rebirth - but it definitely could have been better. I would love a full expansion that irons out all the small annoyances and adds in a little bit more content. Still for what it was, I am very glad to have bought the game and played through it three times now.
 

whyman

Member
This data isn't conclusive. And even if it was, it makes it all the more scummy that Capcom charged $70 and destroyed it with microtransactions. And it makes Itsuno's statements pre-launch all the more deceiving and false how he claimed this game had everything and was the intended DD. You can't have your cake and eat it too. If these credits are true (I doubt it) it means Capcom tricked us all.
It’s a AAA title, they cost about $70 today, sadly.
I do not know how the game was destroyed by micro-transactions, everything is already in the game.
I’m halfway into NewGame+ and if this is not a complete title, then I don’t know what people were expecting. Great game, fair price but bad pc performance.
 

MagiusNecros

Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
I dont care about the $70 price tag. i spent 35 hours in the game. its good enough.

the problem i have is that the single player campaign feels half baked and very indie like. you have maybe 3 cutscenes in the game that are mocapped with people acting and talking. the rest are npcs standing around.

you also have just one mission that feels like a story mission with its own objectives and markers. the rest is simply going from one place in the world to another. most open world games have dedicated dungeons and areas for story missions.

i think they needed more people to flesh out this game. it seems like they had just enough devs to create an open world, fill it with enemies, update the combat system from the first game, and call it a day. its not about money, its about quality.
It's not a cinematic heavy game. It's about you the player going on a adventure. It's peak Dark Fantasy Zelda with the 2000's era MMO of no handholding. The world and it's environment tells it's own story.

If there is any issue to take it's I believe the devs rely on players having played DD1 to make sense of things.
 
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GymWolf

Gold Member
It kinda shows in the final result.
The game feels half-baked as a sequel and barely an improvement over the first (which was already notorious for being a coitus interruptus).
Pretty much this.

A fun romp that could have been much, MUCH better.
 
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KungFucius

King Snowflake
Anyone mad about those optional microtransactions is crazy, there is nothing there that needs to be purchased they are just for people who want to take some short cuts.
The game was so annoying though and you wanted those shortcuts. Who really wants to backtrack over and over again fighting tons of the same things? Exploration wasn't fun either. It was a let down across the board and if that design was really to coax people into getting MTX it was bullshit. After playing it, I am not sure why I liked the first one so much.
 

Draugoth

Gold Member
This is misleading. The main theme had around 100 people.

Most of these 400 people are translators
 

Draugoth

Gold Member
I think all capcom game in recent memory have these mtx. All the recent resident evils and remakes have the mtx for quicker upgrades and unlocking shit that one would normally have to grind for. Dmc and mh also had mtx for resources.

The MTX was only released 1 month after thr game's initial release for those cases, ehich is why they avoided the backlash
 
Holy shit, only 4 level designers! Man, for the size of the world this does put in perspective why I felt the game was lacking in unique dungeon designs. I love what they did with the implementation of dungeons in a more "natural" way, but this makes things a lot more forgiving.

Capcom has done this team dirty. I applaud what they pulled it off here, even if some of the things are lacking in areas that the first and the MMO excelled at.
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
It kinda shows in the final result.
The game feels half-baked as a sequel and barely an improvement over the first (which was already notorious for being a coitus interruptus).

Notorious? Where the fuck did you pull that nonsense from?

This game was hyped because a lot of us thought the original was great and underrated, and those who came later always had the ridiculously good Dark Arisen add-on bundled in giving them game not one but two lengthy end-game campaigns to enjoy!

But that's coitus-interruptus?

/facepalm.
 
Seems like Capcom still doesn't have any faith on this IP's potential.

DD2 is an amazing game that could have still been much more than what it is. Maybe third time's the charm?

I hope we get a DLC like Dark Arisen at least.
I think Capcom got surprised by the sales. They have put a survey for DLC in the first 3 days after release. After everything we saw while playing the game, the marketing, and the credits, it is obvious that this is more of a passion project for the team and Capcom probably only greenlitght the sequel because Itsuno probably begged them and his previous performance with Devil May Cry 5 allowed it.

If anything, Capcom never had faith in the IP tbh. The first game was cut short because of budget and deadlines, the MMO never came outside Japan, and the sequel is clearly understaffed and was promoted as the first $70 next-gen only Capcom game. Give this team to another studios with better budget and manpower and they would probably launch a game deserving of the All-Time Hall of Fame of games.
 

tvdaXD

Member
Anyone mad about those optional microtransactions is crazy, there is nothing there that needs to be purchased they are just for people who want to take some short cuts.
I haven't bought the game for this reason, and this is not DD2 specific, but these microtransactions aren't micro at all. Usually 2 or 3 and you've already paid more than what should have been a "full game."
Then there's just the fact that they are created to solve problems/save time for something that is just artificial and purposely built so you are more likely to pay.
 

Madflavor

Member
It makes one wonder. I've seen people call DD2 their GotY, some even say it's in their Top 10. Which okay, cool fine. But I wonder how much more they would've loved the game if it wasn't half baked and badly designed in so many areas? It's not so much a quality issue, as it is a potential issue. I mean yes, there are quality issues for sure. But DD2 has the bones of game that could be considered one of the greatest of it's genre, that's isn't full realized due to the ass backwards approach to some of it's game design, and severe lack of variety in enemy and dungeons.

Perhaps someday after some DLC, DD2 can become closer to what it should've been. But right now, it's just DD1 all over again. Except back then it was more acceptable because it was a new IP and an experimentation. But it's been 12 years, the excuses aren't as strong with this one.
 
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Dr. Claus

Banned
It makes one wonder. I've seen people call DD2 their GotY, some even say it's in their Top 10. I wonder how much more theses people would've loved the game if it wasn't half baked and badly designed in so many areas? It's not so much a quality issue, as it is a potential issue. I mean yes, there are quality issues for sure. But DD2 has the bones of game that could be considered one of the greatest of it's genre, that's isn't full realized due to the ass backwards approach to some of it's game design, and severe lack of variety in enemy and dungeons.

Perhaps someday after some DLC, DD2 can become closer to what it should've been. But right now, it's just DD1 all over again. Except back then it was more acceptable because it was a new IP and an experimentation. But it's been 12 years, the excuses aren't as strong with this one.
Us folks who enjoy the game don’t think it is half baked and badly designed. Just because you do doesn’t make it a reality. It is just your subjective opinion.

I haven't bought the game for this reason, and this is not DD2 specific, but these microtransactions aren't micro at all. Usually 2 or 3 and you've already paid more than what should have been a "full game."
Then there's just the fact that they are created to solve problems/save time for something that is just artificial and purposely built so you are more likely to pay.
The MTX is completely useless as you get everything you need early on and never need to spend money.
 

Madflavor

Member
Us folks who enjoy the game don’t think it is half baked and badly designed. Just because you do doesn’t make it a reality. It is just your subjective opinion.

I said it was badly designed in many areas, not the entire game. And it is half baked. It IS half baked. You fight the same enemies in the last hour of the game as you do the first. The affinity system is completely undercooked. There's no level scaling in NG+. The entire last section of the game, Volcanic Island, has no exploration. There was no New Game option when it launched. The difficulty balance isn't well optimized because most vocations melt all enemies and bosses by the time you hit 40+ with decent gear. The vast majority of "dungeons" in the game are caves with the same aesthetic. I can keep going but I'll end it with the game's obvious performance issues.

Dragon's Dogma 2 is:

71-+fFp1ZML._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg


and you deserved a better version of the game.
 
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Dr. Claus

Banned
I said it was badly designed in many areas, not the entire game. And it is half baked. It IS half baked. You fight the same enemies in the last hour of the game as you do the first. The affinity system is completely undercooked. There's no level scaling in NG+. The entire last section of the game, Volcanic Island, has no exploration. There was no New Game option when it launched. The difficulty balance isn't well optimized because most vocations melt all enemies and bosses by the time you hit 40+ with decent gear. The vast majority of "dungeons" in the game are caves with the same aesthetic. I can keep going but I'll end it with the game's obvious performance issues.

Dragon's Dogma 2 is:

71-+fFp1ZML._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg


and you deserved a better version of the game.

Folks have already proven you wrong multiple times in other threads. It’s clear you missed a ton of stuff in the game and want to play the exaggerative hyperbole card.
 

Madflavor

Member
Folks have already proven you wrong multiple times in other threads. It’s clear you missed a ton of stuff in the game and want to play the exaggerative hyperbole card.

Nah I went through the game with a fine toothed comb and discovered most things the game had to offer. I really didn't missed much.
 

GymWolf

Gold Member
I said it was badly designed in many areas, not the entire game. And it is half baked. It IS half baked. You fight the same enemies in the last hour of the game as you do the first. The affinity system is completely undercooked. There's no level scaling in NG+. The entire last section of the game, Volcanic Island, has no exploration. There was no New Game option when it launched. The difficulty balance isn't well optimized because most vocations melt all enemies and bosses by the time you hit 40+ with decent gear. The vast majority of "dungeons" in the game are caves with the same aesthetic. I can keep going but I'll end it with the game's obvious performance issues.

Dragon's Dogma 2 is:

71-+fFp1ZML._AC_UF1000,1000_QL80_.jpg


and you deserved a better version of the game.
Even if i agree with most of what you say, (but i haven't finished the game yet) you don't get to tell others if they can enjoy something or not, maybe they don't put much weight in some of these flaws like me and you do and they put more weight in what the game does right.

Maybe they are happy with the version they got.
 
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Madflavor

Member
Even if i agree with most of what you say, you don't get to tell others if they can enjoy something or not, maybe they don't put much weight in some of these flaws like me and you do and they put more weight in what the game does right.

Maybe they are happy with the version they got.

What was the exact quote that came off like I'm telling others they can't enjoy DD2?
 

GymWolf

Gold Member
What was the exact quote that came off like I'm telling others they can't enjoy DD2?
You telling people that they deserve better when they are fully happy with how the game is or the beginning of the previous post, doesn't sound a bit too much accondescending to you?

Maybe i misinterpreted.
 

Sentenza

Member
Notorious? Where the fuck did you pull that nonsense from?
From being there and playing it at release?
The game got lukewarm reviews at best at the time. Poor performances, bad writing, poor quest design and an overall feeling of being just half-baked were some the most common criticism at the time.
It's only with time that a cult following formed around the title, especially with the Dark Arisen improvements AND the Steam release that addressed the performance problems of the console versions.

This game was hyped because a lot of us
"A lot of us" doesn't mean fucking shit, though.
Four lunatics on this forum being rabid about it don't define general consesus.

You don't even need to take my word for it. Just go and track some of the old reviews at the time.
 

TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Game sure felt half-baked to me. There are tons of caves that lead to a door like this which makes me feel like they ran out of time and couldn't complete them.

mDvoAYQ.png


For anyone wondering, those doors look identical to the one in Battahl, the one that leads to the Volcano Island, which you open with the Godsbane. Maybe they were meant to be some late-game dungeons? Who knows.
Aside from that, the lack of enemy variety kinda hurts. At least each enemy recolor has it's own thing and they aren't just recolors.

Still, game might feel incomplete, but to me at least it proved to be a very fun experience that kept me hook for about 130 hours, which might increase thank to the Custom Difficulty Mod which just gave me a reason to replay it all over again.

Hey, I love that movie.
 
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Madflavor

Member
You telling people that they deserve better when they are fully happy with how the game is or the beginning of the previous post, doesn't sound a bit too much accondescending to you?

Maybe i misinterpreted.

For all my criticisms of the game, I ultimately see it as an issue of missed potential rather than quality. Because I think the core of the game itself is good, but the other systems that surround the core don't do a good enough job to support it and ascend the game to greatness. When I say someone deserved a better game than what we got, I mean we really all deserved a better game than what we got. DD1 was 12 years ago, and there's not enough evolution and fine tuning of these systems to justify the final product we ended up getting.

If someone loves the game good on them. I loved Dark Arisen. I had certain expectations for DD2, it didn't come close to meeting them, and I have strong opinions on how I feel about the game. And I've received pushback on my criticisms on here before, when I was in early endgame. You know what I did? I listened to the criticism on my opinions, went back to the game, and played more of it. I came out of it feeling the same way, but I gave this game's defenders a fair shake. I'm not dismissive towards their thoughts on the game, but if they want to challenge my criticism then I'm going to defend it.

Hey, I love that movie.

 

GymWolf

Gold Member
For all my criticisms of the game, I ultimately see it as an issue of missed potential rather than quality. Because I think the core of the game itself is good, but the other systems that surround the core don't do a good enough job to support it and ascend the game to greatness. When I say someone deserved a better game than what we got, I mean we really all deserved a better game than what we got. DD1 was 12 years ago, and there's not enough evolution and fine tuning of these systems to justify the final product we ended up getting.

If someone loves the game good on them. I loved Dark Arisen. I had certain expectations for DD2, it didn't come close to meeting them, and I have strong opinions on how I feel about the game. And I've received pushback on my criticisms on here before, when I was in early endgame. You know what I did? I listened to the criticism on my opinions, went back to the game, and played more of it. I came out of it feeling the same way, but I gave this game's defenders a fair shake. I'm not dismissive towards their thoughts on the game, but if they want to challenge my criticism then I'm going to defend it.





Got it.

Btw, What is chapelle eating? Like toffee or marshmellow bar? I watched the movie like 20 times and i always been curious.
In italian he call it "ammazza fame" (hunger killer) or some shit.
 

Madflavor

Member
Got it.

Btw, What is chapelle eating? Like toffee or marshmellow bar? I watched the movie like 20 times and i always been curious.
In italian he call it "ammazza fame" (hunger killer) or some shit.

I know I can come off more like a dick than I mean to.

It’s an ABBA ZABBA bar. It’s chewy taffy with a peanut butter center. And if you’ve ever eaten one yourself, you would realize how impressive the way Dave stretches it out is.
 

GymWolf

Gold Member
I know I can come off more like a dick than I mean to.

It’s an ABBA ZABBA bar. It’s chewy taffy with a peanut butter center. And if you’ve ever eaten one yourself, you would realize how impressive the way Dave stretches it out is.
No problem dude, i have the same problem sometimes :lollipop_grinning_sweat:
 
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