Summary
WhileDragon’s Dogma 2feels like an upgrade on the originalDragon’s Dogmagame overall, though there are still quite a few differences between the games, both good and bad. These can range from very small, almost imperceptible differences to complete system overhauls, it really just depends on how beloved that mechanic or system was in the first game.
For the most part, anyone who played the originalDragon’s DogmaorDragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisenwill be able to hop right intoDragon’s Dogma 2with little to no issue. However, there are still a few mechanics that work differently in this sequel game, so let’s go over some of those now.
7Character Customization Gameplay Effects
Height & Weight Impact Gameplay Much Less In Dragon’s Dogma 2
First up is a pretty small effect in the grand scheme of things, but one that adds a lot more freedom to the character creator for the Arisen inDD2. Essentially, in the first game, certain aspects of a player’s designed Arisenwould impact different starting stats. Their height and weight, for example,would impact their starting max Stamina, their Stamina Regeneration, and their Carrying Capacity.
InDragon’s Dogma 2, most of these effects are still there, but the difference is that they’re much less impactful in comparison. Additionally, there are no longer any differences in the maximum height or weight of a character based on their gender, which is a universally welcome change overall.
6Fall Damage
It’s Absolutely Brutal This Time Around
Another aspect of the originalDragon’s Dogmathat has only become more brutal in the sequel is fall damage. Fall damage in this game isso incredibly rough to get used to at first. It’s relatively realistic, that much is true. But, that ‘realism’ still ends up feeling a bit silly as soon as players consider the fact that the Arisen, who literally had their heart eaten by a dragon and is now alive again,can’t fall more than 10 feet without basically dying.
Fall damage still existed in the firstDDof course, and it still hurt quite a bit. But, it didn’t hurt nearly as much as it does now, and there were a few more ways players could mitigate or avoid it entirely.
5Fewer Armor Slots
Not a Big Change Mechanically But It Does Limit Creative Freedom a Bit
There are a couple of key aspects ofDragon’s Dogma 2that seem to have been streamlined or at the very least relatively simplified compared to the first game. While this does make the series more approachable to a wider demographic overall, when it comes to removing systems that led to more unique builds between players, that’s pretty rough. InDD, players had 8 slots for their Armor:
Now, inDragon’s Dogma 2, players only have 6 slots, as the Clothing slots underneath the Armor have now been removed (though one more Accessory slot was added in exchange) and the Chest and Arm Armor have now been combined into one singular slot. While this isn’t a huge change, it does limit the visual creativity of players a decent amount and is relatively regarded as an unnecessary change.
4Vocation-Locked Armor
One of the Primary Reasons People are Using Warfarer is to Counter This
Speaking of Armor, let’s talk about probably the biggest negative change between the two games, and that’s locking Armor Sets behind different Vocation requirements. In the originalDragon’s Dogma, this wasn’t a mechanic, and players could have a Strider Vocation Arisen be covered head to toe in Plate Mail if they so chose.
However, inDragon’s Dogma 2, Armor Sets are now unable to be worn by any Vocation that doesn’t have its icon specifically shown on that Armor’s stats page. While most Armor pieces dohave at least 2 or so Vocationsthat can wear them, it’s still a heavily limiting customization change that fans of the original game aren’t very happy about.
3Strider Broken Into Archer & Thief Vocations
One Absurd Vocation Broken into Two Absurd Vocations
Another immediate change that fans of the originalDragon’s Dogmaare going to notice when they start upDD2is the fact that the Strider Vocation is gone. This Vocation was absurdly strong in the first game, so much so that they apparently had to break it into two separate Vocations in the sequel, those being Archer and Thief.
It’s nice that they’ve sort of separated the ranged dexterity class and the melee dexterity class into two different Vocations, and somehow this change hasn’t madeeither Vocation any weaker overallcompared to the other options.
2Riftstones Are Plentiful
The Arisen Can Always Have a Pawn Nearby if They so Desire it
This is yet another small change overall, but it has a pretty noticeable effect on the game itself. In the originalDD, Riftstones were relatively rare out in the open world, making it a real problem if a player’s Pawn died and disappeared as they would likely not be able to summon them again for a while and would have to ‘get by’ without one of their AI companions.
However, inDD2, Riftstones seem to be lying around everywhere. This almost makes things too easy as not only are Pawns constantly roaming the roads of this world as they did in the first game, but now players typically only have to travel a couple hundred feet at most to find a Riftstoneto either summon or re-summon their party of Pawns.
1Lack Of Notice Boards
Much Less Incentive to Just Go Out There and Fight Things
Surprisingly, despite how much of this game is based around high-octane combat against all sorts of different monsters, very few quests inDragon’s Dogma 2actually revolve around fighting monsters as their primary objective. Most have players gathering specific items, talking to certain NPCs, or backtracking to a previously visited location.
This factor makes the lack of Notice Boards inDD2a lot more noticeable than it otherwise would be, as these were a great way to incentivize players to go out and hunt to their heart’s content in the first game. Without them inDragon’s Dogma 2, it almost feels like players can speed through the main storyline without having to do much fighting at all.
