Dogma 1 was my favorite game, I live in a poor country and Dogma 2 didn't have regional pricing so it was very expensive worth 2 weeks of groceries I couldn't afford it but I bought it since I loved the first game so much after playing for 40hours I was disappointed and heartbroken this is the reason why I won't buy a game without a discount.
I felt the same way about Diablo 4. Can't believe I paid 2 weeks of groceries for it. My country doesn't even have regional pricing, but I'm making sure not to play on release anymore and to wait for deep sales.
Dragon's Dogma 2 is a very good game, but it's not an improvement over DD1. It's similar, yet different - better in some ways, worse in others. And to me, that was a massive disappointment. DD1 is one of my favorite games - with a few improvements and new stuff, it could have been killer - adding co-op, more skills, more vocations, a more dense world, a better paced story - yet instead of improving the formula, they remade it from scratch, fixing some mistakes while creating new ones. I'm not going say that DD2 is worse than the first, but it's also not better. I'd say the Dark Arisen expansion is best Dragon's Dogma experience overall. The increased price and lack of regional pricing (I'm also from a poor country) just made the whole experience more bitter.
@@draken1991 First. Dragon's Dogma is my favorite game of all time. I bought it day one based on the box art alone and was never disappointed; I still play Dark Arisen often just to wander the hills of Gransys. Anyway, I started Dragon's Dogma II and... I'm already feeling that although it's quite pretty to look at, the action is off and the storytelling is less effective. Grigori's appearance and "attack" in 1 was perfection! What kicked off 2? A Medusa-like snake woman? I can't even remember... I've now played an hour and haven't picked up the game in 2 days. Is this how it should be with the sequel to your favorite game of all time? Now, I felt similar with RDR2 (I think RDR is brilliant!) so I'll soldier on, but I've already lost all the "steam" of anticipation. I keep hoping a grand dlc like Dark Arisen will be announced that might reignite my excitement, but that is seeming less-and-less likely. Oh well... maybe I'll play Dark Arisen again.
I get being disappointed by DD2 but I think when it came out I was just hungry for an adventure game and it really scratched that itch for me. I loved it and still think fondly of it, but I recognize that it definitely has flaws in the overall story and second half of the game.
While I enjoyed Dragon's Dogma 2..... and I sunk a signifigant amount of time into it.... it was also crushingly disappointing. Which is a strange feeling for me.
I agree with tour take on Dragon Dogma 2. I thought that it could be game of the year before launch and when it dropped it was so uninteresting unfortunately
@@caseyblankenship987 believe me, the combat system in the first game was SO MUCH better. More responsive control, more skills to use, better vocations, cancelable moves, better end game contents. I can list more, if you're willing to hear.
To be fair, Dark Arisen isn't the original Dragon's Dogma game. Dark Arisen includes the DLC, which added a lot of endgame content, and a ton of QoL improvements. Like I spent 90% of my time on BBI, so without Dark Arisen the original Dragon's Dogma wouldn't have been as great as it was imo. I was definitely left wanting more after I finished my playthrough of DD2, but I still had a blast playing it and compared to the original DD release I enjoyed it more. Hopefully with the commercial success of DD2 capcom will put in the resources to repeat history and drastically improve DD2 like they did with the original.
I definitely understand why people might be disappointed in Dragon's Dogma 2, but for me it offers gameplay that just isn't found in any other game that exists right now, and for that reason it's worth noting. With the right updates I truly believe it can become one of the best games of all time.
I want to note that I am a big fan of the original. I completely agree with Morts take on this and I have to disagree with your comment. Yes, Dragons Dogma features combat not seen in other games, however I do not think any amount of updates would make up for the bad world design, bad writing, uninteresting characters, and related to the combat - severe lack of enemy variety, that would make it one of the best games of all time. Morts point was that after the first game we expected DD2 to be the finished version of that which would be one of the best games of all time, but we sadly didn’t get that at all and probably never will.
@bossrangoon3711 Well at that point it comes down to what you want out of the game. Personally, I couldn't care less for most of the things you mentioned (in this game), with the exception of enemy variety. I'm of course a big fan of the original game, which had none of those things anyways.
@@sjhacks1405 Sure, some people don’t look for that in a game. But I think without the package I wouldn’t consider it “one of the best games of all time”. But if we want to focus on it, the combat and features related to it was also lacking in DD2, even compared to the original. The combat doesn’t scale much in difficulty and there’s no hard mode, it honestly becomes a cake walk 20 hours in. Slots for skills were reduced down to 4 for each class when some has far more in the original. Gear variety was reduced and even slots to equip them were taken away. Even outside of variety, there weren’t enough new monsters, many got copied and pasted from the original. And especially in a world where Dark Arisen has already come out, the fact the DD2 didn’t have any sort of dungeon crawls like it was just disappointing. The pawn system also felt like a step down from the original, and with how integral they are to the game you’d think they get more than 2 voice options and a dozen voice lines. I could go on, but it’s the fact that they really did nothing to improve on the original and in most cases made things worse made it disappointing.
Dragon's Dogma 2 never calls itself Dragon's Dogma 2 before the end of the game. All the time before that the title screen just says "Dragon's Dogma". So i think the developers kinda intended it to be a reboot as well as a sequel, somehow i guess?
@BifrostMR Jacob Geller recently did a video about games that hide their sequels, and he raised a good point about Dragon's Dogma 2 purely because of this - the game the entire time is Dragon's Dogma, until the unmoored world, which is when Dragon's Dogma 2 starts. Does it justify the disappointment? Not really. Is it artistic and rad as hell? Yeah.
The main bulk of the game was called Dragon's Dogma because you were going through the same story cycle as previous DD's. When you defied the cycle and reach the hellish post-game, that part became Dragon's Dogma 2 as it was a brand new story with unknown outcome. It's a neat idea but devs clearly didn't have enough time to flesh out the postgame, so fell flat for everyone.
the more games you play the easier it is to get disappointed by new ones, because you know how much better it could've been done and it's not even a guess/wish you've seen it done
I got Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen for $10 from GameStop a few years ago. I liked it well enough for that price, but felt it could have been better. So it was disappointing to hear that not much improved with the sequel.
I just recently got DD2 when the deluxe edition was on sale for weirdly less than the base game. I've actually been enjoying it more than Dark Arisen. It has been scratching an exploration itch that Bethesda hasn't hit for years that I don't think was truly satisfied for me since Breath of the Wild. Something about DD1's obtuse design, wide empty spaces, slower feeling combat, and slower paced beginning just didn't click with me. I rarely have time for games anymore, and an average session in DD2 feels better to me. I can fight a few monsters and make a little progress to my next goal and stop at a campsite. DD1 felt like it was holding back if I couldn't dedicate hours to a long journey or arduous dungeon delve. It could be something as simple as the basic camping system adding to my immersion and that the mystic spearhand does what I wanted the mystic knight to do. It doesn't hurt that I've also had a soft spot for fantasy cat people since Morrowind.
Mortis do the opposite of the whole "gamer reviewers" now who are just grifters trying to use hate to get people watching, thank you for bringing actual critics from a respectful place, is very refreshing.
I fully agree with the criticism of Vessel of Hatred, despite loving the new content. Its story just felt 'pointless', as if nothing is resolved or nothing happened. And Dragons Dogma 2, man, what a waste. Not a bad game by any means but holy heck it could have been so much more. I absolutely love the combat in it but it's like the devs were stuck in 2010.
I recall Ziostorm previewing Deathbound and Codex Lost back to back. Kinda agree with the overall sentiment towards Deathbound, even though it’s not a bad title by any means. Personally I’m currently digging Codex Lost. Certainly a little clunky, but the atmosphere and interconnectivity are very enthralling. You should certainly check it out!
Actually I agree with this. But I would wait for ironpineapple to cover codex last. Don’t think mortismal gets enough time to cover all games like this.
Veilguard is absolutely the most disappointing game in the last decade for me. Weirdly, I watched your review and I think I agreed with most things that you said, but the things you liked weren’t the most important to me.
I thought it was miles better than andromeda and anthem. I was skeptical at first but really enjoyed it. The story had an amazing finale and the dialogue was fine, Rook felt much more like an actual person than 'the Inquisitor', which was more like an assorted collection of voicelines.
@@Excalibaardliking veilguard more than anthem I think comes up to personal taste in the genre. I really agree with Skill Ups take that Veilguard was a bigger disappointment, since BioWare specialises in RPG’s.
@@Excalibaard I mean andromeda was widely mocked and anthem was a live service game that was heavily criticized and shut down early so that's a pretty low bar. The writing just seems so offputting and i've heard the combat gets pretty repetitive.
@reed1645 The OP said 'in the last decade', they set the bar. I genuinely enjoyed Veilguard's combat until the end as a 2h Warrior, and Rogue / Mage already feel completely different.
Conscript: A very Resident Evil inspired horror indie game sans any zombies or supernatural monsters. The only monster here is man's inhumanity to man. Loved it. Broken Roads: This was a real kick to the teeth. The Australian Outback setting was really cool, but everything about it was so middling.
I almost completely agree with your opinion on Dragons Dogma 2. I think the original Dragons Dogma is one of the best games ever. It is in my top 5 of all time, and the sequel took away a lot of what I loved about the original, and barely added anything new. I like your opinion of it's prettier, but more streamlined version of the original.
One of the blessings of growing older while being a "gamer" is that I feel less inclined to buy new games, and more inclined to replay and re-explore games I already love. | know many people couldn't care less about a stranger's list of good video games, but I'll share some of the games that I continue to play -- despite already beating them (or playing them for thousands of hours). Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous Baldur's Gate 3 Total War: Warhammer III WH40k: Rogue Trader Crusader Kings III Dota 2 The Hunt: Showdown Age of Wonders 4 Darktide World of Warcraft Diablo 4 Elden Ring Helldivers 2 Some people may disagree with certain games on this list; that's fine. The point is that each of these games have many thousands of hours of content that I couldn't possibly explore in one playthrough. Some not even with 10 playthroughs. It doesn't mean that I don't buy new games -- I do. But I continually find myself drawn back to the magic of a truly good game like Wrath of the Righteous, or BG3, or Warhammer III, or Rogue Trader. If I want a 4x strategy fix, I'll boot up Crusader Kings III and get a new experience every time. I was disappointed with Dragon's Dogma 2, not because I think it's a bad game, but because it had SO MUCH MORE potential. I wanted more. I wanted to love the game. Right now, I merely like it. I can sense the greatness that lies within but may never be brought to reality. On a side note: If enough people support Company of Heroes 3, I believe it also has a ton of potential. Consider buying it on sale. It's a game that has a ton of room to grow and became a better game than its forebears. Hell, it's already almost there. EDIT: Although their age is showing, I cannot forget to add Divinity: Original SIn 2 and The Witcher 3 as honorable mentions. These games changed me. I also want to give a shoutout to RDR2, Sekiro, and Ghosts of Tsushima. Excellent games with perhaps less replay value than the above list, but the story and gameplay left an impression on me that will not fade in time. EDIT 2: This list is for PC only. The time would fail me if I were to talk about Fire Emblem, Tactics Ogre, Pokemon, Monster Hunters, and a slew of other games that I consider "portable." The point I'm trying to make is that before you buy a new game, perhaps try "playing stranger" with a game you already own, and see how far that takes you. I bet you will be pleasantly surprised.
Pathfinder: WOTR Baldur’s Gate I and II Icewind Dale I and II Total Warhammer II Shogun Total War II Heroes of Might and Magic III Fallout: Tactics Fallout New Vegas Fallout 4 Oblivion Skyrim Morrowind Warhammer: Inquisitor: Martyr Diablo II Kingmaker again if I ever find a mod to fix the kingdom events nonsense to my liking I’d love to get into Darktide myself, but my internet is lousy these days (I loved Vermintide back in days of yore). But your original point stands, plenty of older games have lots of replayability left in them. I even had a blast with the original Shogun: Total War a while back. This year has been extremely disappointing for me in terms of games, haven’t held on to a single 2024 release.
@@TheJinnobi Good to know. I must admit to being somewhat loot greedy. I gave up on MMOs because I hated having to grind through a multi-hour raid for the umpteenth time only to find no items, no rewards, nothing once again. A system wherein you get at least something worthwhile, even if it wasn’t the super groovy thing you’re looking for, makes dungeoneering a lot more rewarding. Plus, Ogryns are great.
I have to agree i was so disappointed with DD2. If anything i think people are being too forgiving it feels a lot worse than the first game in a lot of ways and comes off incredibly dated. The only thing i was impressed by was the character creator. I loved the first one but this had none of it's charm and most of it's flaws.
The Diablo franchise reached the same level as Pokémon, GTA, CoD, MK, etc. You will never get a coherent story from those mainstream-focused games, specifically those that are Live-Service, in which they will NEVER give the story a meaningful ending, as long the cashcow doesn’t stop.
I'm one of those Dragon's Dogma 2 apologist, there were definitely flaws to the game especially if compared to the first game. Still I enjoyed my time kill big monsters for hours, hopefully they make a 3rd one that is able to enjoyed by the wider Dragon's Dogma community.
6:17 i fully agree with you, to be fair, i sometimes play diablo just to kill some time, unwind and listen to music, but i really enjoyed the campaign of 4, the tone reminded a lot of D2, i honestly always replay the campaign when i start a new character ( its not revolutionary or anything but it has my favorite moments of the game) and usually drop it when the postgame grind starts
I had such a great time with Dragon's Dogma 2 but I definitely get where you're coming from on here. It's one of the games I enjoyed the most this year that I also always forget even came out or that I played.
dark arisen was directed by another guy. Itsuno left likely won't have any impact on the dlc, the dlc depends more on how Capcom see if it's profitable
Dd2 is in the running for my goty. I went in with no expectations and didnt play the first one. The story sort of held me until the desert zone then fell apart but i just loved the gameplay loop and progression. The classes are all so fun to play and fighting the bosses was fun. Also the surpirse secret ending with a whole new zone was shocking, even if it didnt hold my attention that long.
I kinda liked combat in Broken roads. As you unlock skills you get quite a few options in combat. Not the worst , not the best, but setting makes up for it.
I liked Dragon's Dogma 2 a lot more than most people. I loved the original, and the sequel isn't AS good, but I just wasn't as disappointed as others. It was a fun game, it could have been better but I got my money's worth out of it.
The disappointment of the year to me is Dragon's Dogma 2. I preordered it, since Capcom releases are superb in the recent years, and I loved the original one. It's so sad that, as you pointed out, the game is not better but even worse than the original one in many ways. It doesn't make any sense. Itsuno should make hack 'n' slash games, or just the combat for games. His ideas for Adventure and RPG are really outdated.
I agree with your take on Dragon's Dogma 2, while I enjoy some aspect of the game, such character creation, pawns, etc... the overall plot, past the initial part feel a bit rushed and with some weird pacing, sometimes burying the actual twists it tries to pull. Serious, stuff like the Pathfinder, which I keep meeting and often forgetting about it not much later, despite the actual implications he brings.
I honestly enjoyed Outcast. Some rote rinse and repeat missions but the jetpack and the ability to summon the huge space worm were great and the world was ‘different’ enough for me, plus the weapon upgrade system was very versatile. Definitely a strong 7/10 for me.
That’s cause it isn’t. Maybe it’s a tonal shift from Origins but the lighthearted banter and more good than bad choices have been consistent since DA2 and Inquisition. There’s still gore and awful shit in DAV it’s just less frequent.
So, I'm going to go with your latter prompt. My big surprise of the year has been Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven. For context, I am a LONG time SaGa player, right back to the original GameBoy releases. I adore the majority of the series, warts and all. That said, while I had expected something solid, and even had been impressed and intrigued by what I'd been hearing from previews and reviews, what I did not expect was for my wife to steal away with it before me and proceed to obsessively play it (she's some 30-40 hours in now to my 10). I should clarify, she's just as much a gamer as I am, but she's never had the tolerance for sussing out obscure systems, and the SaGa series is NOTORIOUS for being not just obscure, but outright obtuse in their mechanics. But the QoL features they've implemented with this remaster have really opened the doors for other gamers to really get in and see some of what us long-time fans have loved for so many years, and that, I think, is a true testament to good design and production (excessive load times on the Switch aside...).
For me it might be DAV really don't like what they did with the lore. Mostly around the blight and archdemons. The enemies also felt a bit similar to each other. I do think the combat is a improved version of DAI combat. I did put in 80 hours and completed Nightmare true ending. Best new characters Emmrich and Manfred. Look forward to the next best RPG/CRPG
@@theobell2002 The blight has some type of entity in it influencing things. The archdemons just being horcrux wasn't that interesting to me. Did not like the new look of darkspawn they seem to strip them of uniqueness. The Grey Wardens felt incompetent. First commander steals the glory of a noble sacrifice and doesn't even die himself.
DD2 was supposed to be the true vision of the game. And after 200h I realized that there was no vision. There is nothing in DD2 beyond what DD1 already was. Inconsistnt/weak missions, weird story that gets absurdly phylosophical/intense. In DD1 there was a lot to clean, and in DD2 there are still the same things to clean. But this time, with less skills to use and way less mistery and discovery feeling compared to the first one. DD1 was flawed, but it felt somehow magical, misterious, absorbing. I felt more sense of discovery in a 4 times smaller map than I did in DD2. It just wasn't there. All the things that I thought they would get rid of, because of how evident it was that they needed a big improvement or straight deleting them they just copy pasted and made it somehow worse. There is no vision there. They just had an idea and they are stuck there because they don't know how to improve it. So they updated the graphics, increased the map size and thought that was it.
Of this list, I've only played Vessel of Hatred and DD2. Like you, I enjoy the story and lore of Diablo, and I enjoyed VoH until now. Almost like breaking glass, as you explained the story was just a lead up to another expansion, It only just clicked for me that this is 100% the case... now I feel disappointed. With DD2, I like it alot, but also agree the first game was better. I hate that they dumbed down the equipment, going from 8 equipable body slots plus 2 accessory slots, to 4 body slots and 2 accessories. It really reduces the customization of both your options for builds and visual appearance. Have to say I still like it overall.
Because I tend to see games in a different light, I'm glad I don't do reviews. Even if I agree or disagree with some points mentioned about games I still view them based on experience while playing them. That said I enjoyed the hell out of Dragon's Dogma 2. It's a Capcom game & by my count, Capcom has the some of the worse story writing I ever experienced in video games. Either the stories tend to be intentionally zany so as to not be taken seriously or they try to be too serious & fail. With this, I didn't expect anything from the story in Dragon's dogma 2, I was looking forward to the combat & graphical improvements over the original. They delivered on that front for me. I understand any and all who had negative viewpoints on the game. Next, Dragon Age: the Veilguard has been my personal game of the year thus far. It did for me everything it needed to do in a Dragon age game. I don't really care about what anyone disliked about this game because I enjoyed my time across 3 playthurs with more planned. Lastly, Diablo 4 was such a disappointment for me it's one of the few games that I deleted off my SSD. I tend to be the person who just buys more storage instead of deleting games. This one however disappointed me so much (personally) I decided to delete it & I don't intend to give it another try.
Honestly, i think Capcom treated DD2 as a dry run for the RE engine Monster Hunter. Loads of weapons, climbable monsters, big open areas, etc. They work out the kinks on a minor-ish title like DD2 so Monster Hunter looks great and brings in the real money.
I unfortunately didn't manage to get into Dragon's Dogma 1, but ended up really enjoying Dragon's Dogma 2, in spite of its many flaws. I think its biggest flaws are enemy variety and lack of interesting / expansive dungeons. Aside from that, I don't really have any major complaints. I could care less about the game having a good plot.
Really enjoying AoW 4, it has been an excellent RPG/strategy mix, very addicting game for me... Veilguard my big disappointment this year unfortunately.
Thanks for this! I was cautious and didn't impulse-buy a lot of games this year, which was prudent. My own disappointments this year have to do with prices. I cannot believe how many games are being sold for $60-70. It's astonishing, for example, that the Dragon Quest III remake (oh, sorry, "re-imagining") is being sold for $60 US. That's insane for a remake of a game from 1988. I'm just not going to pay some of these prices.
Some games that turned out worse than I expected: Star Wars: Outlaws, Enotria: The Last Song, Capes, Crown Wars: The Black Prince, Life is Strange: Double Exposure, Phantom Fury, The Casting of Frank Stone, Homeworld 3, Welcome to ParadiZe, Men of War II.
Dragon's Dogma 2 is a reboot more than a sequel. And the first game with Dark Arisen is way more fleshed out. And you can get it for couch change on sale.
I disagree on DD2. Maybe some things aren't as deep and involved as in DD1, but I think what they did with streamlining some of the systems made it an easier game to understand. I attempted playing the first game many times and just could never get into it, but I played so much of DD2. I do agree that the story still isn't very strong, but it was a slight improvement over DD1's story. I would also say that I don't agree with Vessel of Hatred being on this list. I can respect Mort's reasons for putting it here, and I do agree that the story ends right when it is starting to get somewhere good. I'm not as mad about the expansion model they are going with for Diablo 4 personally. It would be nice if the season storylines that we get for free connected more to the main overarching plot in some way, but given that it is made by a big AAA company owned by an even bigger company that was then purchased by Microsoft, we can't expect to be getting expansion sized updates for free. The executives would just never let that happen. Truthfully, I don't mind buying an expansion every now and then if it means getting significant chunks of content between now and whenever they decide to eventually make Diablo 5. I think systems wise and gameplay wise Diablo 4 is in the best place it has ever been in since it launched. There are plenty of options for endgame activities, leveling is fun, the paragon board is less tedious now, and it is just much friendlier to players overall.
Glad I’m not the only one let down by Dragons Dogma 2 (but really liked the original). For me my biggest letdowns were Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Star Wars Outlaws. Neither are “bad” but I was really looking forward to them…
I see where you're coming from with dragon's dogma 2 personally though I've always been someone who's been focused way more heavily on combat than story so I really had to sit back a minute and think about what you were staying other than that if you're a fan of action RPGs I 100% recommend dragon's dogma 2 and if you're a fan of combat in video games I also 100% recommend dragon's dogma 2
Yeah I get the vibes that the biggest criticisms come from the story. I haven't played it yet but if the combat and exploration are then I'm all in. This is a video GAME, not a video book.
Oh damn. I was curious about the Dragon's dogma series. It looked intriguing. Might consider picking up 2 since I heard travelling was a chore in the first one. If not, maybe the first one is better. I didn't like Bioshock Infinite. It was not a Bioshock game. Having played System Shock 2 several times as a kid, the series was already not quite as memorable, but this one was incredibly unenjoyable as a game. It's one of the only times I have ever pushed through with a mediocre title. The expansion felt much nicer, though. I remember quite a few things from System Shock 2. I struggle to recall anything in BS:I except for the twins and Elizabeth. It got the new Jurassic park film treatment, basically. Bioshock 2 was really nice. Best game in the series, imo. No one talks about it as much.
@@schmidth aah cool. So one is still well worth picking up. Got it. Nice. I don't mind some grind. To be fair, Horizon Zero Dawn had long travel between several areas. Fallout 4's whole thing is travelling around. So if it's similar or less than those, it's not really a problem.
I play Diablo 4 on the regular and I too was expecting more from the story. I don't mind them setting up for the next expansion but to cut it off so soon, yeah, it didn't feel great and I like what the story has been in Diablo 4, they set up Mephisto as a great villain but I wish it would have gotten farther. The only caveat that I am taking from this is that while the Druid has been my favorite class since Diablo 2, my second favorite has been the Paladin/Crusader and the "end" of Vessel of Hatred sets it up perfectly that the next class for Diablo 4 probably will be either the Paladin or Crusader. The businees model for Diablo really is harming the writing team's efforts to tell a story and that is a damn shame.
DD2 is my favorite single player game ever. I also played the Dark Arisen DLC but of course - I am not a Dark Arisen purist. I remember when LOTR purists tried to get me to dislike the movie trilogy. Were you one of those guys? lol
I hope you do play the original Outcast though (play the remaster called Second Contact!), it's still a really fun and unique game, and sounds like what you wanted the sequel to be.
I agree with you about Vessel of Hatred. I also was really disappointed with the story. Felt like a bunch of fetch quests and ended when it got somewhat interesting.
"the reality is that is not what happened...is a slightly worse version with better graphics...honestly worse than the original in a lot of ways" Brutal phrasing. And can play "guess the game" with many possible answers in recent years. Thanks for this list. Given generally positive tendencies for channel content, wasn't expecting such a list. Some of these were on my to-buy list. DD2 was until I remembered I didn't finish nor enjoy DD:DA. Outcast remains on my list for the very reason Mort was disappointed (I'm no Mort). Broken Roads...came off my list due to exposure here on the channel, sad to say. Or maybe that's a positive thing w.r.t. channel utility; or at least wishlist length!
My most disappointing games this year: EDF 6: the main issue is the repeition. You are already expected to replay each misison 3-4 times for each difficulty, then multiply that by 4 for each class. But then you discover half the misisons are repears of EDF 5, a third are repeats of missions in EDF6 but in a different timeline, and the remainder is original. That is over 100 missions to be played 12 times, many of which are copypastes from a previous game Yakuza 8: Hawaii setting is awesome. Combat revamps are amazing QoE. The characters are...ok this time around. The main issue was the disappointing story that had no real bite. The end of Kiryu's saga, but the ending makes me feel like they might drag him back for another title. Ichiban meets his mother, but barely interacts with her after 20-30 hours of the plot revolving around finding her. Ichiban has barely any connection with the main villain who is the most generic religious cult stereotype you could possibly see in a videogame. It feels like they wrote the funny nude beach scene with Ichiban in Hawaii + Kiryu's arc, and then had to fill in the rest Dragon's Dogma 2: for every one step forward, they took 2 steps back. I might be one of the rare people that like the new travel system, and there are improvmeents to how levelling works, but overall the game is a dull wet fart conpared to the hype we all had. Environments are grander and bigger, but have no real flair or lead your eye to interesting locations. Combat is revamped, so now you have less skills on vocations because some moves are integrated into combos, but it leaves jobs like the mage on a shoestring budget for how to build your class. Quest design is awful, with the only exciting quest i could remember being at the end when you fight the colossus. The story is very dull, you dont even get any buildup upon meeting a former Arisen like in DD1, and there is no real payoff for all the talk of ending the cycle by harnessing the dragons power. The game itself feels bored with the story its presenting
I haven’t played the games on this list but I want to and will play Dragon age 2. For me it would be dragon age as the most disappointing but to be honest I had no expectations for it since it was pretty obvious it was going to be bad for a long time. Though I am surprised at how your review said you didn’t care as much about the story but it seems like you usually do. Oh well we all get to decide what we like or don’t.
I got DD2 for my birthday and am enjoying it. It doesn't feel like an improvement over the first game, just more of the same, and that is disappointing. The thing I hate most is that the support class is locked to the main character. Why can't I make my main pawn a trickster? The support character can't even play support!
Wholeheartedly agree about dd2. I enjoyed playing it, but it was incredibly disappointing. Was so hoping it would have the chance to really flourish and further realize all the things that were great about the first game but it ended up feeling more unfinished than dd1 did
I totally agree.. I bought Dragons Dogma 2 based on how much I loved the original and I was SO let down. About 2 hours in I started getting bored and lost interest in the story. The combat is not enough to save this game in my opinion. So, I don't think your pick for the last game is that controversial.
For myself it was 1.0 for Night of the Dead. it has everything I love, but it doesnt have the exploration depth. Its great to explore but you only find the same things all the time. needs about 1, 000 items to get it over the top.
When vessel of hatred launched and all my mythic uniques I spent literally hundreds of hours grinding for as a solo player got their item level nerfed into oblivion i literally quit on the spot and uninstalled
Man dragons dogma really did suck. Starting out I felt like I was playing a remake of the first. Rise of the Ronin came out at the same time and is much better but was overshadowed by the DD2 hype.
Rise of the Ronin is such an underrated game. Loved Nioh 2 and this really brought back the stance switching and ki pulsing aspect which made it a lot of fun. Hope it gets the 3x DLCs which the previous Team Ninja games got.
This! Rise of the Ronin got bashed by youtube reviewers who clearly only played the first bits of the game, which is a huge disservice since the game's combat system gets exponentially more fun as you go. I was hoping Mortym would review it but I realized it's only on PS5, not PC...
Dragon's Dogma was a weird one. Yeah, I had a decent amount of fun with it, but I was ultimately disappointing too, because it really does just feel like Dragon's Dogma 1.5.
I rather enjoyed DD2 - all I wanted was more dragons dogma and thats what we got but I dunno there was something missing. I did an ENTIRE playthrough for each vocation in DD1 but DD2 I finished once and never touched again.
I liked Dethbound - I did not lose health when healing (maybe it was just my version or the build I went for), although the indication of where to go at some points was kinda of vague (I needed to use YT). The two encounters that felt unfair was the one you are showing at 3:20 two dogs (one being on the untargatable ledge) as sort of behind you moment and the Eithalos (summoner) fight, which was just stupid - I have no idea how I pulled it off. I also had massive lock-on problems (it kept automatically switching targets) which was especially annoying on the Swamp boss, because it also switched camera angle. Final boss was a joke, I 2 shotted him.
I ended up 100%ing Dogma 2, I do agree it felt not as good as the first one but it was still fun and was enjoyable. The true ending was interesting but I wanted something similar to bitter black isle, though that WAS a dlc and not in the original game.
I can agree 100% re VoH story, constant crying and dying, just to come back to life and do more crying & dying lol! Otherwise, haven't played the others. Shame about an Aussie game making it onto this. I think that apart from D4 (which I play mostly with & for the Mrs), the only games I played a lot of this year and enjoyed would be older crpgs and mmos (WotR, CoH, SWTOR, LOTRO) and more recently Rogue Trader. I stopped playing time sinks like GW2, BDO and Warframe earlier this year to take a break. Last Epoch was also a arpg standout. But, TBH Mort, there would have been another game with dragon in the title at the top of most people's list...ahem.
DD2 was a massive dissapointment for me. I spent thousands on a new pc with a rtx 4090 just to play this game as a birthday present to myself and ended up absolutely hating the world, story and combat after just two weeks.
The worst part about DD2 is the useless exploration The game makes it so hard to explore with the day/night cycle with absolutely zero reward, since the best loot is in shops
I think I'll finally give DD2 a shot when I have time. I have over 600 hours in Dragons Dogma (half of which is in the base game) and at least DD2 is something new. A slight downgrade to a game like dogma should still be a decently good time. Moreso with the regular updates it's been getting.
DD2 for me is 1step ahead but 2step back lol, im glad i fastrun the game to get the platinum and then sells it back Im really dissapointed by it especially when Dark Arisen is reaaaally good i wonder why they throw some of the really good stuff in DD2
Dragons Dogma 2 is a weird one for me. I don't think it was a "bad" game or not fun. But it's also one I uninstalled to make room for other games and just don't feel any urge to reinstall. Personally, it was way too easy, once you got a certain build and the storyline, while ok, wasn't enough to carry it. The pawn disease was also just an annoying mechanic that served no purpose other than punishing players for using one of the game's core features. I guess I feel there wasn't anything massively wrong with the game...but there wasn't anything great or special either. I had fun for about 20 hours, got the broken OP build, realized I could solo the game in my sleep and stopped playing.
I was so letdown by Dragon's Dogma 2. It had ALL the potential to be a classic for the modern era but good god did they squander it on just about on every aspect. I don't even think they had the budget difficulties or publisher influence as they did with the original game; The devs just failed.
Dogma 1 was my favorite game, I live in a poor country and Dogma 2 didn't have regional pricing so it was very expensive worth 2 weeks of groceries I couldn't afford it but I bought it since I loved the first game so much after playing for 40hours I was disappointed and heartbroken this is the reason why I won't buy a game without a discount.
I felt the same way about Diablo 4. Can't believe I paid 2 weeks of groceries for it. My country doesn't even have regional pricing, but I'm making sure not to play on release anymore and to wait for deep sales.
Dragon's Dogma 2 is a very good game, but it's not an improvement over DD1. It's similar, yet different - better in some ways, worse in others.
And to me, that was a massive disappointment. DD1 is one of my favorite games - with a few improvements and new stuff, it could have been killer - adding co-op, more skills, more vocations, a more dense world, a better paced story - yet instead of improving the formula, they remade it from scratch, fixing some mistakes while creating new ones. I'm not going say that DD2 is worse than the first, but it's also not better. I'd say the Dark Arisen expansion is best Dragon's Dogma experience overall.
The increased price and lack of regional pricing (I'm also from a poor country) just made the whole experience more bitter.
You re not alone, it was the biggest bullshit of the year, look forward to a new game that will make you love it, it’s out there
@@draken1991 First. Dragon's Dogma is my favorite game of all time. I bought it day one based on the box art alone and was never disappointed; I still play Dark Arisen often just to wander the hills of Gransys. Anyway, I started Dragon's Dogma II and... I'm already feeling that although it's quite pretty to look at, the action is off and the storytelling is less effective. Grigori's appearance and "attack" in 1 was perfection! What kicked off 2? A Medusa-like snake woman? I can't even remember... I've now played an hour and haven't picked up the game in 2 days. Is this how it should be with the sequel to your favorite game of all time? Now, I felt similar with RDR2 (I think RDR is brilliant!) so I'll soldier on, but I've already lost all the "steam" of anticipation. I keep hoping a grand dlc like Dark Arisen will be announced that might reignite my excitement, but that is seeming less-and-less likely. Oh well... maybe I'll play Dark Arisen again.
ok
While I'm 7 years late, on the opposite end of the spectrum, Prey was an absolutely massive positive surprise for me this month.
Prey is amazing
I gave up on Prey out of frustration but I decided to give it another go months later. So glad I did. It's great!
Loved Prey. The ending sucked, but everything before it was great.
@@whosaidthat84I'm getting ready to start prey. What is it that frustrated you so I know what to look out for?
I think Prey is the best title Arkane Studios produced. Frankly.
I get being disappointed by DD2 but I think when it came out I was just hungry for an adventure game and it really scratched that itch for me. I loved it and still think fondly of it, but I recognize that it definitely has flaws in the overall story and second half of the game.
If only it had a good story, it wouldn't have been as bad. The immersion, the combat, and just the vibes are on point imo
@@junechevalierthe first game had a pretty bad story as well. Didn't really matter.
@@caseyblankenship987honestly I wouldn’t mind the combat if the enemy variety wasn’t the same recycled goblins, wolves or Saurians every five minutes
@@repskillian1313 DD1 had a great story but terrible execution. DD2's story and lore was just a complete mess
So it seems that the story is the only thing that's disappointing to most. How about the gameplay? I've yet to play it
I agree with your DD2 take but I still put in 150hrs lol despite having access to fewer skills the combat is super fun
While I enjoyed Dragon's Dogma 2..... and I sunk a signifigant amount of time into it.... it was also crushingly disappointing. Which is a strange feeling for me.
I agree with tour take on Dragon Dogma 2. I thought that it could be game of the year before launch and when it dropped it was so uninteresting unfortunately
I remember getting fetch quests for herbs and potatoes in DD2 and yawning. Quite apart frometh thine awful mocketh medieval dialogueth
@tsavin yeah there's enough of that in Skyrim already xD
@@caseyblankenship987In some ways, yh. Especially enemy (Bitterblack Isle really) and skill variety
@@tygarspace1754 Skyrim still has plenty of memorable quests. DD2 had ONE decent side quest in the entire game and even that wasn't very good
@@caseyblankenship987 believe me, the combat system in the first game was SO MUCH better. More responsive control, more skills to use, better vocations, cancelable moves, better end game contents. I can list more, if you're willing to hear.
To be fair, Dark Arisen isn't the original Dragon's Dogma game. Dark Arisen includes the DLC, which added a lot of endgame content, and a ton of QoL improvements. Like I spent 90% of my time on BBI, so without Dark Arisen the original Dragon's Dogma wouldn't have been as great as it was imo.
I was definitely left wanting more after I finished my playthrough of DD2, but I still had a blast playing it and compared to the original DD release I enjoyed it more. Hopefully with the commercial success of DD2 capcom will put in the resources to repeat history and drastically improve DD2 like they did with the original.
Mort talks about these games with a tone that says "I'm the father you never had and I don't ever want to be this disappointed in you again"
I liked this really critical Mort. In general, you are usually very positive, but here the criticism felt really on point with pretty good feedback.
Cortical Mort escaped from his universe into ours.
I definitely understand why people might be disappointed in Dragon's Dogma 2, but for me it offers gameplay that just isn't found in any other game that exists right now, and for that reason it's worth noting. With the right updates I truly believe it can become one of the best games of all time.
I want to note that I am a big fan of the original. I completely agree with Morts take on this and I have to disagree with your comment.
Yes, Dragons Dogma features combat not seen in other games, however I do not think any amount of updates would make up for the bad world design, bad writing, uninteresting characters, and related to the combat - severe lack of enemy variety, that would make it one of the best games of all time.
Morts point was that after the first game we expected DD2 to be the finished version of that which would be one of the best games of all time, but we sadly didn’t get that at all and probably never will.
@bossrangoon3711 Well at that point it comes down to what you want out of the game. Personally, I couldn't care less for most of the things you mentioned (in this game), with the exception of enemy variety. I'm of course a big fan of the original game, which had none of those things anyways.
@@sjhacks1405 Sure, some people don’t look for that in a game. But I think without the package I wouldn’t consider it “one of the best games of all time”.
But if we want to focus on it, the combat and features related to it was also lacking in DD2, even compared to the original.
The combat doesn’t scale much in difficulty and there’s no hard mode, it honestly becomes a cake walk 20 hours in. Slots for skills were reduced down to 4 for each class when some has far more in the original. Gear variety was reduced and even slots to equip them were taken away. Even outside of variety, there weren’t enough new monsters, many got copied and pasted from the original. And especially in a world where Dark Arisen has already come out, the fact the DD2 didn’t have any sort of dungeon crawls like it was just disappointing. The pawn system also felt like a step down from the original, and with how integral they are to the game you’d think they get more than 2 voice options and a dozen voice lines.
I could go on, but it’s the fact that they really did nothing to improve on the original and in most cases made things worse made it disappointing.
Dragon's Dogma 2 never calls itself Dragon's Dogma 2 before the end of the game. All the time before that the title screen just says "Dragon's Dogma". So i think the developers kinda intended it to be a reboot as well as a sequel, somehow i guess?
Good point. I wholeheartedly recommend you to watch the latest video by Jacob Geller, by the title Games That Hide Their Own Sequels.
@BifrostMR Jacob Geller recently did a video about games that hide their sequels, and he raised a good point about Dragon's Dogma 2 purely because of this - the game the entire time is Dragon's Dogma, until the unmoored world, which is when Dragon's Dogma 2 starts. Does it justify the disappointment? Not really. Is it artistic and rad as hell? Yeah.
@@gummibananeExcept Dragon Dogma 1 repeat the same sequence of event. It's not a novel addition to DD 2.
The main bulk of the game was called Dragon's Dogma because you were going through the same story cycle as previous DD's. When you defied the cycle and reach the hellish post-game, that part became Dragon's Dogma 2 as it was a brand new story with unknown outcome.
It's a neat idea but devs clearly didn't have enough time to flesh out the postgame, so fell flat for everyone.
Dragons Dogma 2 really drops off so hard towards the end, it's staggering how hard they dropped the ball there.
the more games you play the easier it is to get disappointed by new ones, because you know how much better it could've been done and it's not even a guess/wish you've seen it done
Dragon age veilguard....👀
I got Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen for $10 from GameStop a few years ago. I liked it well enough for that price, but felt it could have been better. So it was disappointing to hear that not much improved with the sequel.
I just recently got DD2 when the deluxe edition was on sale for weirdly less than the base game. I've actually been enjoying it more than Dark Arisen. It has been scratching an exploration itch that Bethesda hasn't hit for years that I don't think was truly satisfied for me since Breath of the Wild.
Something about DD1's obtuse design, wide empty spaces, slower feeling combat, and slower paced beginning just didn't click with me. I rarely have time for games anymore, and an average session in DD2 feels better to me. I can fight a few monsters and make a little progress to my next goal and stop at a campsite. DD1 felt like it was holding back if I couldn't dedicate hours to a long journey or arduous dungeon delve.
It could be something as simple as the basic camping system adding to my immersion and that the mystic spearhand does what I wanted the mystic knight to do. It doesn't hurt that I've also had a soft spot for fantasy cat people since Morrowind.
Mortis do the opposite of the whole "gamer reviewers" now who are just grifters trying to use hate to get people watching, thank you for bringing actual critics from a respectful place, is very refreshing.
I fully agree with the criticism of Vessel of Hatred, despite loving the new content. Its story just felt 'pointless', as if nothing is resolved or nothing happened.
And Dragons Dogma 2, man, what a waste. Not a bad game by any means but holy heck it could have been so much more. I absolutely love the combat in it but it's like the devs were stuck in 2010.
Was counting on Broken Roads soo much and at the end it was just broken with no roads to fun.
I recall Ziostorm previewing Deathbound and Codex Lost back to back. Kinda agree with the overall sentiment towards Deathbound, even though it’s not a bad title by any means. Personally I’m currently digging Codex Lost. Certainly a little clunky, but the atmosphere and interconnectivity are very enthralling. You should certainly check it out!
Actually I agree with this. But I would wait for ironpineapple to cover codex last. Don’t think mortismal gets enough time to cover all games like this.
@@AdventureGolf-v6r Iron Pineapple covered the demo a while back actually. Hopefully he gives the full game a spin too
Veilguard is absolutely the most disappointing game in the last decade for me. Weirdly, I watched your review and I think I agreed with most things that you said, but the things you liked weren’t the most important to me.
I thought it was miles better than andromeda and anthem. I was skeptical at first but really enjoyed it. The story had an amazing finale and the dialogue was fine, Rook felt much more like an actual person than 'the Inquisitor', which was more like an assorted collection of voicelines.
@@Excalibaardliking veilguard more than anthem I think comes up to personal taste in the genre. I really agree with Skill Ups take that Veilguard was a bigger disappointment, since BioWare specialises in RPG’s.
I couldn't finish andromeda, it was so boring. Veilguard, for all it's flaws, still managed to keep me interested till the end
@@Excalibaard I mean andromeda was widely mocked and anthem was a live service game that was heavily criticized and shut down early so that's a pretty low bar. The writing just seems so offputting and i've heard the combat gets pretty repetitive.
@reed1645 The OP said 'in the last decade', they set the bar.
I genuinely enjoyed Veilguard's combat until the end as a 2h Warrior, and Rogue / Mage already feel completely different.
DD2 was not that big of a disappointment for me. I still had a blast with it, even if there are some things that annoyed me. It’s a fun game.
Conscript: A very Resident Evil inspired horror indie game sans any zombies or supernatural monsters. The only monster here is man's inhumanity to man. Loved it.
Broken Roads: This was a real kick to the teeth. The Australian Outback setting was really cool, but everything about it was so middling.
I almost completely agree with your opinion on Dragons Dogma 2. I think the original Dragons Dogma is one of the best games ever. It is in my top 5 of all time, and the sequel took away a lot of what I loved about the original, and barely added anything new. I like your opinion of it's prettier, but more streamlined version of the original.
One of the blessings of growing older while being a "gamer" is that I feel less inclined to buy new games, and more inclined to replay and re-explore games I already love.
| know many people couldn't care less about a stranger's list of good video games, but I'll share some of the games that I continue to play -- despite already beating them (or playing them for thousands of hours).
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous
Baldur's Gate 3
Total War: Warhammer III
WH40k: Rogue Trader
Crusader Kings III
Dota 2
The Hunt: Showdown
Age of Wonders 4
Darktide
World of Warcraft
Diablo 4
Elden Ring
Helldivers 2
Some people may disagree with certain games on this list; that's fine. The point is that each of these games have many thousands of hours of content that I couldn't possibly explore in one playthrough. Some not even with 10 playthroughs.
It doesn't mean that I don't buy new games -- I do. But I continually find myself drawn back to the magic of a truly good game like Wrath of the Righteous, or BG3, or Warhammer III, or Rogue Trader. If I want a 4x strategy fix, I'll boot up Crusader Kings III and get a new experience every time.
I was disappointed with Dragon's Dogma 2, not because I think it's a bad game, but because it had SO MUCH MORE potential. I wanted more. I wanted to love the game. Right now, I merely like it. I can sense the greatness that lies within but may never be brought to reality.
On a side note: If enough people support Company of Heroes 3, I believe it also has a ton of potential. Consider buying it on sale. It's a game that has a ton of room to grow and became a better game than its forebears. Hell, it's already almost there.
EDIT: Although their age is showing, I cannot forget to add Divinity: Original SIn 2 and The Witcher 3 as honorable mentions. These games changed me. I also want to give a shoutout to RDR2, Sekiro, and Ghosts of Tsushima. Excellent games with perhaps less replay value than the above list, but the story and gameplay left an impression on me that will not fade in time.
EDIT 2: This list is for PC only. The time would fail me if I were to talk about Fire Emblem, Tactics Ogre, Pokemon, Monster Hunters, and a slew of other games that I consider "portable."
The point I'm trying to make is that before you buy a new game, perhaps try "playing stranger" with a game you already own, and see how far that takes you. I bet you will be pleasantly surprised.
Pathfinder: WOTR
Baldur’s Gate I and II
Icewind Dale I and II
Total Warhammer II
Shogun Total War II
Heroes of Might and Magic III
Fallout: Tactics
Fallout New Vegas
Fallout 4
Oblivion
Skyrim
Morrowind
Warhammer: Inquisitor: Martyr
Diablo II
Kingmaker again if I ever find a mod to fix the kingdom events nonsense to my liking
I’d love to get into Darktide myself, but my internet is lousy these days (I loved Vermintide back in days of yore). But your original point stands, plenty of older games have lots of replayability left in them. I even had a blast with the original Shogun: Total War a while back. This year has been extremely disappointing for me in terms of games, haven’t held on to a single 2024 release.
@@kingleech16 Thanks for the reply. Just so you know, the complete rehaul of Darktide's loot and scaling system made the game much better than it was!
@@TheJinnobi Good to know. I must admit to being somewhat loot greedy. I gave up on MMOs because I hated having to grind through a multi-hour raid for the umpteenth time only to find no items, no rewards, nothing once again. A system wherein you get at least something worthwhile, even if it wasn’t the super groovy thing you’re looking for, makes dungeoneering a lot more rewarding.
Plus, Ogryns are great.
I've been having a ton of fun with Wayfinder, Windblown, and Ravenswatch with my friends this year.
I have to agree i was so disappointed with DD2. If anything i think people are being too forgiving it feels a lot worse than the first game in a lot of ways and comes off incredibly dated. The only thing i was impressed by was the character creator. I loved the first one but this had none of it's charm and most of it's flaws.
The Diablo franchise reached the same level as Pokémon, GTA, CoD, MK, etc. You will never get a coherent story from those mainstream-focused games, specifically those that are Live-Service, in which they will NEVER give the story a meaningful ending, as long the cashcow doesn’t stop.
I'm one of those Dragon's Dogma 2 apologist, there were definitely flaws to the game especially if compared to the first game. Still I enjoyed my time kill big monsters for hours, hopefully they make a 3rd one that is able to enjoyed by the wider Dragon's Dogma community.
Thank you for being honest 🙏 as always
6:17 i fully agree with you, to be fair, i sometimes play diablo just to kill some time, unwind and listen to music, but i really enjoyed the campaign of 4, the tone reminded a lot of D2, i honestly always replay the campaign when i start a new character ( its not revolutionary or anything but it has my favorite moments of the game) and usually drop it when the postgame grind starts
Dragon's dogma 2 really needed more enemy variety. I really wanted to love this game, but in the end, it was just ok.
I had such a great time with Dragon's Dogma 2 but I definitely get where you're coming from on here. It's one of the games I enjoyed the most this year that I also always forget even came out or that I played.
The worst part about Dragon's dogma 2 is that the director, Itsuno, left Capcom so we might never even get a DLC in the same league as Dark arisen
Wasn't dark arisen directed by other guy?
Itsuno didn’t do the dlc
Dark Arisen wasn't done by Itsuno though
dark arisen was directed by another guy. Itsuno left likely won't have any impact on the dlc, the dlc depends more on how Capcom see if it's profitable
@@luizhenriquemurbackwiedmer7669 Yes, and said other guy is supposedly working on DLC.
Might already be on your radar but an indie RPG called VED just dropped and I’d love to hear what you think about it
Are you going to do another end of year ranking of every game you played/reviewed this year? I love those videos!
Yeah, a few more reviews to go yet though, probably in December
Dd2 is in the running for my goty. I went in with no expectations and didnt play the first one. The story sort of held me until the desert zone then fell apart but i just loved the gameplay loop and progression. The classes are all so fun to play and fighting the bosses was fun. Also the surpirse secret ending with a whole new zone was shocking, even if it didnt hold my attention that long.
I kinda liked combat in Broken roads. As you unlock skills you get quite a few options in combat. Not the worst , not the best, but setting makes up for it.
I liked Dragon's Dogma 2 a lot more than most people. I loved the original, and the sequel isn't AS good, but I just wasn't as disappointed as others. It was a fun game, it could have been better but I got my money's worth out of it.
The disappointment of the year to me is Dragon's Dogma 2. I preordered it, since Capcom releases are superb in the recent years, and I loved the original one. It's so sad that, as you pointed out, the game is not better but even worse than the original one in many ways.
It doesn't make any sense.
Itsuno should make hack 'n' slash games, or just the combat for games.
His ideas for Adventure and RPG are really outdated.
The funny thing is that they even made the combat worse.
@@theobell2002 Well, I can't compare it since I played DD1 long time ago, but it surely didn't feel as a straight upgrade from DD1's combat.
I agree with your take on Dragon's Dogma 2, while I enjoy some aspect of the game, such character creation, pawns, etc... the overall plot, past the initial part feel a bit rushed and with some weird pacing, sometimes burying the actual twists it tries to pull. Serious, stuff like the Pathfinder, which I keep meeting and often forgetting about it not much later, despite the actual implications he brings.
I honestly enjoyed Outcast. Some rote rinse and repeat missions but the jetpack and the ability to summon the huge space worm were great and the world was ‘different’ enough for me, plus the weapon upgrade system was very versatile. Definitely a strong 7/10 for me.
Ty for all your reviews mort!
Really surprised Dragon Age THE Veilguard wasn’t on here for being a big tonal shift from previous games in the series.
That’s cause it isn’t. Maybe it’s a tonal shift from Origins but the lighthearted banter and more good than bad choices have been consistent since DA2 and Inquisition. There’s still gore and awful shit in DAV it’s just less frequent.
So, I'm going to go with your latter prompt. My big surprise of the year has been Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven. For context, I am a LONG time SaGa player, right back to the original GameBoy releases. I adore the majority of the series, warts and all. That said, while I had expected something solid, and even had been impressed and intrigued by what I'd been hearing from previews and reviews, what I did not expect was for my wife to steal away with it before me and proceed to obsessively play it (she's some 30-40 hours in now to my 10). I should clarify, she's just as much a gamer as I am, but she's never had the tolerance for sussing out obscure systems, and the SaGa series is NOTORIOUS for being not just obscure, but outright obtuse in their mechanics. But the QoL features they've implemented with this remaster have really opened the doors for other gamers to really get in and see some of what us long-time fans have loved for so many years, and that, I think, is a true testament to good design and production (excessive load times on the Switch aside...).
For me it might be DAV really don't like what they did with the lore. Mostly around the blight and archdemons. The enemies also felt a bit similar to each other. I do think the combat is a improved version of DAI combat. I did put in 80 hours and completed Nightmare true ending. Best new characters Emmrich and Manfred. Look forward to the next best RPG/CRPG
What do you not like about the lore of blight in Veilguard?
I really like what they did with it, personally.
Emmrich/Manfred and Neve were the highlights for me, wasn't really fond of Harding which surprised me
@@theobell2002 The blight has some type of entity in it influencing things. The archdemons just being horcrux wasn't that interesting to me. Did not like the new look of darkspawn they seem to strip them of uniqueness. The Grey Wardens felt incompetent. First commander steals the glory of a noble sacrifice and doesn't even die himself.
@@JULR0W Emmrich and Manfred are the best ❤️
DD2 was supposed to be the true vision of the game. And after 200h I realized that there was no vision. There is nothing in DD2 beyond what DD1 already was. Inconsistnt/weak missions, weird story that gets absurdly phylosophical/intense. In DD1 there was a lot to clean, and in DD2 there are still the same things to clean. But this time, with less skills to use and way less mistery and discovery feeling compared to the first one.
DD1 was flawed, but it felt somehow magical, misterious, absorbing. I felt more sense of discovery in a 4 times smaller map than I did in DD2. It just wasn't there. All the things that I thought they would get rid of, because of how evident it was that they needed a big improvement or straight deleting them they just copy pasted and made it somehow worse. There is no vision there. They just had an idea and they are stuck there because they don't know how to improve it. So they updated the graphics, increased the map size and thought that was it.
Of this list, I've only played Vessel of Hatred and DD2.
Like you, I enjoy the story and lore of Diablo, and I enjoyed VoH until now. Almost like breaking glass, as you explained the story was just a lead up to another expansion, It only just clicked for me that this is 100% the case... now I feel disappointed.
With DD2, I like it alot, but also agree the first game was better. I hate that they dumbed down the equipment, going from 8 equipable body slots plus 2 accessory slots, to 4 body slots and 2 accessories. It really reduces the customization of both your options for builds and visual appearance. Have to say I still like it overall.
Because I tend to see games in a different light, I'm glad I don't do reviews. Even if I agree or disagree with some points mentioned about games I still view them based on experience while playing them.
That said I enjoyed the hell out of Dragon's Dogma 2. It's a Capcom game & by my count, Capcom has the some of the worse story writing I ever experienced in video games. Either the stories tend to be intentionally zany so as to not be taken seriously or they try to be too serious & fail. With this, I didn't expect anything from the story in Dragon's dogma 2, I was looking forward to the combat & graphical improvements over the original. They delivered on that front for me. I understand any and all who had negative viewpoints on the game.
Next, Dragon Age: the Veilguard has been my personal game of the year thus far. It did for me everything it needed to do in a Dragon age game. I don't really care about what anyone disliked about this game because I enjoyed my time across 3 playthurs with more planned.
Lastly, Diablo 4 was such a disappointment for me it's one of the few games that I deleted off my SSD. I tend to be the person who just buys more storage instead of deleting games. This one however disappointed me so much (personally) I decided to delete it & I don't intend to give it another try.
Honestly, i think Capcom treated DD2 as a dry run for the RE engine Monster Hunter. Loads of weapons, climbable monsters, big open areas, etc. They work out the kinks on a minor-ish title like DD2 so Monster Hunter looks great and brings in the real money.
I unfortunately didn't manage to get into Dragon's Dogma 1, but ended up really enjoying Dragon's Dogma 2, in spite of its many flaws. I think its biggest flaws are enemy variety and lack of interesting / expansive dungeons. Aside from that, I don't really have any major complaints. I could care less about the game having a good plot.
I liked DD2 but it was hitting differently than when I first played DD1 a decade ago. I was enjoying it but never felt compelled to keep going
I had a great time with Outcast A New Beginning. It was "traditional" in a good way for me.
Would you care to try Age of wonders 4 ?
Really enjoying AoW 4, it has been an excellent RPG/strategy mix, very addicting game for me...
Veilguard my big disappointment this year unfortunately.
Maybe at some point, but no current plans
Thanks for this! I was cautious and didn't impulse-buy a lot of games this year, which was prudent. My own disappointments this year have to do with prices. I cannot believe how many games are being sold for $60-70. It's astonishing, for example, that the Dragon Quest III remake (oh, sorry, "re-imagining") is being sold for $60 US. That's insane for a remake of a game from 1988. I'm just not going to pay some of these prices.
I loved so many aspects of Dragons Dogma 2, but that makes it even more disappointing. I wish the franchise lives to reach its full potential some day
I'm holding out a stupid, foolish hope that Capcom can somehow fix DD2. I screamed when i saw the announcement.
Some games that turned out worse than I expected:
Star Wars: Outlaws, Enotria: The Last Song, Capes, Crown Wars: The Black Prince, Life is Strange: Double Exposure,
Phantom Fury, The Casting of Frank Stone, Homeworld 3, Welcome to ParadiZe, Men of War II.
Dragon's Dogma 2 is a reboot more than a sequel. And the first game with Dark Arisen is way more fleshed out. And you can get it for couch change on sale.
I disagree on DD2. Maybe some things aren't as deep and involved as in DD1, but I think what they did with streamlining some of the systems made it an easier game to understand. I attempted playing the first game many times and just could never get into it, but I played so much of DD2. I do agree that the story still isn't very strong, but it was a slight improvement over DD1's story. I would also say that I don't agree with Vessel of Hatred being on this list. I can respect Mort's reasons for putting it here, and I do agree that the story ends right when it is starting to get somewhere good. I'm not as mad about the expansion model they are going with for Diablo 4 personally. It would be nice if the season storylines that we get for free connected more to the main overarching plot in some way, but given that it is made by a big AAA company owned by an even bigger company that was then purchased by Microsoft, we can't expect to be getting expansion sized updates for free. The executives would just never let that happen. Truthfully, I don't mind buying an expansion every now and then if it means getting significant chunks of content between now and whenever they decide to eventually make Diablo 5. I think systems wise and gameplay wise Diablo 4 is in the best place it has ever been in since it launched. There are plenty of options for endgame activities, leveling is fun, the paragon board is less tedious now, and it is just much friendlier to players overall.
Glad I’m not the only one let down by Dragons Dogma 2 (but really liked the original). For me my biggest letdowns were Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth and Star Wars Outlaws. Neither are “bad” but I was really looking forward to them…
I see where you're coming from with dragon's dogma 2 personally though I've always been someone who's been focused way more heavily on combat than story so I really had to sit back a minute and think about what you were staying other than that if you're a fan of action RPGs I 100% recommend dragon's dogma 2 and if you're a fan of combat in video games I also 100% recommend dragon's dogma 2
Yeah I agree. Story was ok but the exploration and combat was a lot of fun.
Yeah I get the vibes that the biggest criticisms come from the story. I haven't played it yet but if the combat and exploration are then I'm all in. This is a video GAME, not a video book.
Oh damn. I was curious about the Dragon's dogma series. It looked intriguing. Might consider picking up 2 since I heard travelling was a chore in the first one. If not, maybe the first one is better.
I didn't like Bioshock Infinite. It was not a Bioshock game. Having played System Shock 2 several times as a kid, the series was already not quite as memorable, but this one was incredibly unenjoyable as a game. It's one of the only times I have ever pushed through with a mediocre title. The expansion felt much nicer, though.
I remember quite a few things from System Shock 2. I struggle to recall anything in BS:I except for the twins and Elizabeth.
It got the new Jurassic park film treatment, basically. Bioshock 2 was really nice. Best game in the series, imo. No one talks about it as much.
Travelling is a chore in both DD games. But it's still a fun, unique experience overall. Very interesting games
@@schmidth aah cool. So one is still well worth picking up. Got it. Nice. I don't mind some grind. To be fair, Horizon Zero Dawn had long travel between several areas. Fallout 4's whole thing is travelling around.
So if it's similar or less than those, it's not really a problem.
I play Diablo 4 on the regular and I too was expecting more from the story. I don't mind them setting up for the next expansion but to cut it off so soon, yeah, it didn't feel great and I like what the story has been in Diablo 4, they set up Mephisto as a great villain but I wish it would have gotten farther. The only caveat that I am taking from this is that while the Druid has been my favorite class since Diablo 2, my second favorite has been the Paladin/Crusader and the "end" of Vessel of Hatred sets it up perfectly that the next class for Diablo 4 probably will be either the Paladin or Crusader. The businees model for Diablo really is harming the writing team's efforts to tell a story and that is a damn shame.
DD2 is my favorite single player game ever. I also played the Dark Arisen DLC but of course - I am not a Dark Arisen purist. I remember when LOTR purists tried to get me to dislike the movie trilogy. Were you one of those guys? lol
I hope you do play the original Outcast though (play the remaster called Second Contact!), it's still a really fun and unique game, and sounds like what you wanted the sequel to be.
I agree with you about Vessel of Hatred. I also was really disappointed with the story. Felt like a bunch of fetch quests and ended when it got somewhat interesting.
That would be Zelda Echoes of Wisdom, Hell Blade 2 and Elden Ring
"the reality is that is not what happened...is a slightly worse version with better graphics...honestly worse than the original in a lot of ways"
Brutal phrasing. And can play "guess the game" with many possible answers in recent years.
Thanks for this list. Given generally positive tendencies for channel content, wasn't expecting such a list.
Some of these were on my to-buy list. DD2 was until I remembered I didn't finish nor enjoy DD:DA. Outcast remains on my list for the very reason Mort was disappointed (I'm no Mort). Broken Roads...came off my list due to exposure here on the channel, sad to say. Or maybe that's a positive thing w.r.t. channel utility; or at least wishlist length!
I'm never disappointed by games, why, because I watch your reviews first. 👍
What games would you wish you could replay again from a blank slate?
Maybe the Legacy of Kain ones, I experienced them in such a roundabout twisted way...
RDR2, NieR Automata, Subnautica, Baldur's Gate 3, Elden Ring.
Sad Trombone RUclips Jazz 🎶
My most disappointing games this year:
EDF 6:
the main issue is the repeition. You are already expected to replay each misison 3-4 times for each difficulty, then multiply that by 4 for each class. But then you discover half the misisons are repears of EDF 5, a third are repeats of missions in EDF6 but in a different timeline, and the remainder is original. That is over 100 missions to be played 12 times, many of which are copypastes from a previous game
Yakuza 8:
Hawaii setting is awesome. Combat revamps are amazing QoE. The characters are...ok this time around. The main issue was the disappointing story that had no real bite. The end of Kiryu's saga, but the ending makes me feel like they might drag him back for another title. Ichiban meets his mother, but barely interacts with her after 20-30 hours of the plot revolving around finding her. Ichiban has barely any connection with the main villain who is the most generic religious cult stereotype you could possibly see in a videogame. It feels like they wrote the funny nude beach scene with Ichiban in Hawaii + Kiryu's arc, and then had to fill in the rest
Dragon's Dogma 2: for every one step forward, they took 2 steps back. I might be one of the rare people that like the new travel system, and there are improvmeents to how levelling works, but overall the game is a dull wet fart conpared to the hype we all had. Environments are grander and bigger, but have no real flair or lead your eye to interesting locations. Combat is revamped, so now you have less skills on vocations because some moves are integrated into combos, but it leaves jobs like the mage on a shoestring budget for how to build your class. Quest design is awful, with the only exciting quest i could remember being at the end when you fight the colossus. The story is very dull, you dont even get any buildup upon meeting a former Arisen like in DD1, and there is no real payoff for all the talk of ending the cycle by harnessing the dragons power. The game itself feels bored with the story its presenting
I quite liked dragons dogma 2 quite a bit. Mind you though, didn’t play much of the first one.
I haven’t played the games on this list but I want to and will play Dragon age 2. For me it would be dragon age as the most disappointing but to be honest I had no expectations for it since it was pretty obvious it was going to be bad for a long time. Though I am surprised at how your review said you didn’t care as much about the story but it seems like you usually do. Oh well we all get to decide what we like or don’t.
I got DD2 for my birthday and am enjoying it. It doesn't feel like an improvement over the first game, just more of the same, and that is disappointing. The thing I hate most is that the support class is locked to the main character. Why can't I make my main pawn a trickster? The support character can't even play support!
Wholeheartedly agree about dd2. I enjoyed playing it, but it was incredibly disappointing. Was so hoping it would have the chance to really flourish and further realize all the things that were great about the first game but it ended up feeling more unfinished than dd1 did
I totally agree.. I bought Dragons Dogma 2 based on how much I loved the original and I was SO let down. About 2 hours in I started getting bored and lost interest in the story. The combat is not enough to save this game in my opinion. So, I don't think your pick for the last game is that controversial.
For myself it was 1.0 for Night of the Dead. it has everything I love, but it doesnt have the exploration depth. Its great to explore but you only find the same things all the time. needs about 1, 000 items to get it over the top.
When vessel of hatred launched and all my mythic uniques I spent literally hundreds of hours grinding for as a solo player got their item level nerfed into oblivion i literally quit on the spot and uninstalled
While I agree with this list Dragon Age is still the most disappointing game of the year for me.
Thanks for the video. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth was my disappointment. Who puts NG+ behind a paywall? Onward to 400k. All glory to the algorithm.
Man dragons dogma really did suck. Starting out I felt like I was playing a remake of the first. Rise of the Ronin came out at the same time and is much better but was overshadowed by the DD2 hype.
Rise of the Ronin is such an underrated game. Loved Nioh 2 and this really brought back the stance switching and ki pulsing aspect which made it a lot of fun. Hope it gets the 3x DLCs which the previous Team Ninja games got.
This! Rise of the Ronin got bashed by youtube reviewers who clearly only played the first bits of the game, which is a huge disservice since the game's combat system gets exponentially more fun as you go. I was hoping Mortym would review it but I realized it's only on PS5, not PC...
Dragon's Dogma was a weird one. Yeah, I had a decent amount of fun with it, but I was ultimately disappointing too, because it really does just feel like Dragon's Dogma 1.5.
Hoping for an expansion on the levels of dark arisen.
I rather enjoyed DD2 - all I wanted was more dragons dogma and thats what we got but I dunno there was something missing.
I did an ENTIRE playthrough for each vocation in DD1 but DD2 I finished once and never touched again.
I liked Dethbound - I did not lose health when healing (maybe it was just my version or the build I went for), although the indication of where to go at some points was kinda of vague (I needed to use YT). The two encounters that felt unfair was the one you are showing at 3:20 two dogs (one being on the untargatable ledge) as sort of behind you moment and the Eithalos (summoner) fight, which was just stupid - I have no idea how I pulled it off. I also had massive lock-on problems (it kept automatically switching targets) which was especially annoying on the Swamp boss, because it also switched camera angle. Final boss was a joke, I 2 shotted him.
I ended up 100%ing Dogma 2, I do agree it felt not as good as the first one but it was still fun and was enjoyable. The true ending was interesting but I wanted something similar to bitter black isle, though that WAS a dlc and not in the original game.
I can agree 100% re VoH story, constant crying and dying, just to come back to life and do more crying & dying lol!
Otherwise, haven't played the others. Shame about an Aussie game making it onto this. I think that apart from D4 (which I play mostly with & for the Mrs), the only games I played a lot of this year and enjoyed would be older crpgs and mmos (WotR, CoH, SWTOR, LOTRO) and more recently Rogue Trader. I stopped playing time sinks like GW2, BDO and Warframe earlier this year to take a break. Last Epoch was also a arpg standout.
But, TBH Mort, there would have been another game with dragon in the title at the top of most people's list...ahem.
I'm still glad they made DD2 but the end result feels like the same damn game TBH. I thought I had a lot of potential too back then
DD2 was a massive dissapointment for me. I spent thousands on a new pc with a rtx 4090 just to play this game as a birthday present to myself and ended up absolutely hating the world, story and combat after just two weeks.
Got outcast for 3.95 on sale at cd keys awhile ago. It was worth it at that price heh
The worst part about DD2 is the useless exploration
The game makes it so hard to explore with the day/night cycle with absolutely zero reward, since the best loot is in shops
After modding the game with 20+ mods, these issues are fixed and more such as varied enemies
Dogma 2 proofs that the team really didn’t know how to make a good game, not just a budget issue
I think I'll finally give DD2 a shot when I have time.
I have over 600 hours in Dragons Dogma (half of which is in the base game) and at least DD2 is something new.
A slight downgrade to a game like dogma should still be a decently good time. Moreso with the regular updates it's been getting.
I'm still shocked how DD2 felt even more unfinished than DD1 - even with expansion...
Have you played Dragon Quest?
DD2 for me is 1step ahead but 2step back lol, im glad i fastrun the game to get the platinum and then sells it back
Im really dissapointed by it especially when Dark Arisen is reaaaally good i wonder why they throw some of the really good stuff in DD2
Definitely agree on DD2! It’s my most disappointing game of the year. Such a shame! I was so excited!
Dragons Dogma 2 is a weird one for me. I don't think it was a "bad" game or not fun. But it's also one I uninstalled to make room for other games and just don't feel any urge to reinstall. Personally, it was way too easy, once you got a certain build and the storyline, while ok, wasn't enough to carry it. The pawn disease was also just an annoying mechanic that served no purpose other than punishing players for using one of the game's core features.
I guess I feel there wasn't anything massively wrong with the game...but there wasn't anything great or special either. I had fun for about 20 hours, got the broken OP build, realized I could solo the game in my sleep and stopped playing.
I was so letdown by Dragon's Dogma 2. It had ALL the potential to be a classic for the modern era but good god did they squander it on just about on every aspect. I don't even think they had the budget difficulties or publisher influence as they did with the original game; The devs just failed.