Dragon's Dogma 2 is a Bit of a Mess (Game Analysis)
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- Опубликовано: 30 июл 2024
- Dragon's Dogma 2 is an intriguing game that has a strong opening, but falls off really fast. It almost feels like a one-trick pony at times and never lives up to the potential it has, which is a shame.
Here's my open world video if you want to hear my thoughts on the general problems I have with open world game design - • The Problem with Open ...
00:00-02:03 - Intro
02:03-06:06 - A Promising Start
06:06-10:08 - Friction as Design
10:08-18:26 - Combat and Variety Woes
18:26-29:03 - Arisen = Errand Boy
29:03-32:37 - This is where I would talk about the story... IF IT HAD ONE
32:37-37:08 - Additional Issues and Wrap Up
Additional footage courtesy of IGN
#dragonsdogma2 #dragonsdogma 
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Absolutely wild to me that a big criticism of the first game was there only being goblins, lizards, and harpies and they DID IT AGAIN.
also dogs... post-game dogs in 1 were THE WORST
They knew once the higher-ups demanded micro transactions in a single player, it was a botch job. Why try at that point. Terrible game in almost every way.
@@troyl200in every way huh? You don’t have to like it, but being extremely dismissive of any of the good, is just weak stuff dude.
The micro transactions are literally the least impactful issue this game had. Yet that’s what you listed. Incredible.
@@ToliG123 I can ignore this. It's a single player game with micro transactions. This shouldn't exist. It's a bad product.
Dmc 5 is also a single player game with microtransactions😮@@troyl200
Dragon's Dogma 2 is just a re-skin of Dragon's Dogma 1's errors
Really hoping for a DLC for DD2 so we can have a re-skin of the best parts of DD1
@@thechugg4372 FR
@@thechugg4372 FR 🤣
It introduces a lot of more errors that didn't exist in DD1/DA though (it fixed a few like no loading screens and a more filled in open world)
This is honestly the best description of this game I've read.
This game just makes me sad. It could've been something really special. I could forgive almost all tge missteps if the combat was challenging and there were unique weapons and armor i could find by exploring. You can just buy all the best stuff at the shops.
^this
Yeah the lack of good rewards definitely really hurts the exploration.
@@SomeUnkindledAsh I was glad it wasn't challenging - I can't play Elden Ring because it's too challenging for me to enjoy it. But sadly, DD2 has far too many other issues....
It could have been the easiest GOTY of all time and they blew it.
After 15 hours of gameplay I was: "this game is so good"; but after 30 hours and numerous crashes, I'm like: "why did I bought this game, it's boring wtf"
Really crazy how this game gets worse the more you play
Oof yeah, thankfully I didn't have any crashes, but if I did that certainly would have made the 2nd half of the game even less enjoyable lmao.
Same
The last patch resolved a number of issues..I have over 800 hrs into it. If you can't find stuff you aren't looking enough.
Wow I did not know I was supposed to dress as a guard. I just murdered everyone downstairs when they attacked, and then revived one of them cause I felt kinda bad.
lmaooo well that's certainly one way to do it. Honestly might have even been the best course of action lol.
I don't blame you though, I was so confused at first lol. My friend was playing it at the same time as me and I told him to go do that mission to see what would happen, and he got confused as well lol.
Brant tells you to wear guard uniform to blend in went entering the castle at night lol.
Even an guard npc leads you to castle kitchen first few times which has a chest with full guard uniform set.
The story is not undercooked, it's uncooked. RAW.
It jumps at you, no fangs, just gums.
Wtf is that?
Lmao yeah thats a pretty good way of describing it
That's how Gordon Ramsay would put it.
RE: Saint of the Slums quest. You have 3 in-game days to go back to the Slums. Another Nunn (Lottie) will tell you that you got the Abbess arrested and they have no leadership. You have to go back to checkpoint rest town and speak with the Doctor that told you the medicine wasn't good and hire him to lead the Abby. It costs 3000 gold. That's the only way I've found to save Lubomir, the patient who hinted at something being wrong at the Gracious Hand in the first place.
Did not know that. I though he was just meant to die. I will deff have to try that the next game around.
The whole mechanic of 'detaining' or arresting that you can do in like 3 quests without the game ever explaining it to you was the most annoying part of that questline imo. I thought you would just report it to the captain or a guard nearby...
Bro this just blew my mind. Didn't even think of that.
Summed up all my thoughts in the first minute. They just made the first game again. With all the same mistakes.
People we're saying this even during the previews. If it aint broke, dont fix it I guess. But everywhere I look people seem to love it.
@reffa2858 people are blind by nostalgia I said the same thing about the Sims 4
@@reffa2858well a working combat system may not need to be fixed but to have LESS enemy variety, less armor and weapons, and less endgame content than the first it’s bad. They should be ashamed
I guess you didnt play the first game mutch mabe an houer or two..It surely sound like that....as you do say-in the first minute.....Dragons Dogma 2 is absolutly nothing like DD nr 1 but i guess it take more than a minuet to find out.....
The creator even said DD2 is what he wanted DD to be originally. So ovcourse it's going to be the same game for the most part. Really the game is great if you never played the original as it's fresh and new. Older players will not however like this.
Well the usurper plotline gets dropped because you triggered the end of the world in the true ending. So people are more concerned about that. But it does resolve involving Sven.
DD2 copies all the original mistakes of one and removes features. Hell, DD2 doesn't consider itself 2 until unmoored world. So DD2 is essentially DD1 without water, greenery, no enemy variety, no NPCs in the different towns if you evacuate. They add 4 sky beams, and the final is just an interactive cutscene where you fight credits to see. 12 years and they call this a refined vision of Dragons Dogma? You have a whole class dedicated to being useless! Detection could have been on the thief. You had the dragon taxi you to the final battle. DD1 dragon was epic AF, it felt like a sprawling layered battle. It's hard to fully enjoy 2 because DD1/DDDA is superior outside graphics. They artificially inflated the game with a larger map and camps. In DD1 you had a healing spring and could bottle the water. Camps you can't really cook with all foods and can't rest a short period. Being honest, this feels like a half assed effort to cash in on a long demanded sequel. If you didn't play the original DD2 seems amazing. I'm disappointed because it would have just been better to copy DD1 with these graphics entirely and add duospear.
The game feels like it was created reluctantly. Its kinda weird too cause this is a series that Capcom:
rereleased with an expansion after the original underperformed
created an MMO that they updated for a few years in Japan
had a Netflix anime adapted
Like Capcom has been completely ignoring games like Breath of Fire, NightStalkers and Megaman FOR YEARS and they half ass this sequal? That had aqcuired a cult following a decade after???? It truely feels like the only things they want to give true effort to are Street Fighter, Resident Evil and Monster Hunter.
In the simplest terms.
The game is a pretty good foundation, with not much built on it.
Some weird people have said you cant compare it to DDDA, because it had DLC. When its the sequel 12 years later, it damn well should be better than the last product. They will need to get it together over the course of a year
Itsuno and Capcom have all the time in the world but in the end, Dragon's Dogma 2 has the same weaknesses as the original which is baffling. A sequel needs to improve but this is more of a remake/remaster sadly
@@samuel.jpg.1080p I didn’t think they had that much time
Don’t use 12 years, they were working on other games most of that times, it more like 4 or 5
@@egordon7543 No it shows very obviously it wasn't worked on for 12 whole years. RE engine also didn't exist that long 12 years as in it should feel like an actual full advancement of a video game package. That's undebatable
@@Lucy2Juicy I heard they got the side treatment from capcom, as in they didn’t give them as much time money or developers as let’s say resident evil or master hunter bc it wasn’t a main ip, but now it is after the success
About the Rodge quest, man I missed and screwed up a LOT of quests in this game and even I knew I had to look for flowers to find him. I made the same mistake though, I went to the quest marker location on the map to the grave yard and the marker disappeared. I gave up. I had talked to at least 4 NPC's about Rog and knew flowers were a big clue, I just couldn't piece it together. It wasn't until LONG after the time limit expired, that one of the guards at the front of the town randomly told me about the wolf cave they probably took him too. That was the only reason I even found his remains. If the guard had told me that any of the other countless times I ran past him, I could have saved the boy. Beyond that though, if you didn't know the flowers were a clue you probably didn't talk to enough NPC's about it cause it was clear as day the flowers were important.
That is why we do NG+ to fix the wrongs.😘🇬🇧
26:35 while I think your criticism are valid, an npc does point out that the lost boy plants those flowers. They do give you a hint.
You can 1 shot Talos with the Medusa's head and give a unique cutscene later in the story involving your pawn
its still totally boring when you do that
Yeah but it isnt though @kagyubeef2482
@@superdudeperfect it’s so stupid that they replace two boss fights with a silly cut scene. If you don’t fight talos at all you get to fight those two dragons yourself. This is basic game design 101: you don’t reduce your players’ fun by making them watch a boss fight from the side. Can’t fight this logic mate, but I’m sure you’ll still stubbornly try
@@kagyubeef2482 what?
@@kagyubeef2482 Yes it's honestly only there to help people who haven't really researched or played the game enough to be at the required level so they can finish the story.
“Shut the fuck up Atreus” 😂
Dude he was so annoying in that game lmao. Wouldnt even let me look at a puzzle before he was telling me the solution lol
I loved DDDA. It was absolutely wonderful. DD2... I got bored after not that long, for all the reasons you listed. The combat wasn't compelling enough (fewer skills available), enemy variety was lacking, walking everywhere is tedious as hell, the story and almost all the quests are boring fetch quests. They even removed some of the equipment slots compared to DDDA, which makes for less interesting fashion. It's just... Worse.
You can go to your last save or last Inn save. There is a difference. Inn saves are useful when experimenting with the game and you wanna undo a terrible mistake.
You have to pay everytime you rest on a Inn for someone starting it will be rough
@@TheMETALICA40wrong... I'm new player just a few days ago and here I'm already able to afford going to a volcanic camp island..guess what , u just need to do a side quest and manage your coins properly so you can afford a house by 20K lol
@@TheMETALICA40at the beginning you should be selling all your unwanted stuff (even gear upgrade materials) this will allow you to afford the 20K home in Vernworth. Then once you get further in the story (Bakbatthal) you can head to Digger's Ruins to farm the 30K that the beastern lady sells. You will get everything back again anyways. So why save it. Collect everything and sell it now. More wealth will come once you have all 2-4 homes.
@@antoniowarren4841 ok tnx
@@TheMETALICA40 thats not true, i bought a home in 2 towns so ididnt have to pay everytime😂
I do agree on your views of the story. (Not BC its boring or anything though.) But because I felt like we didn't rly have a choice to make things good BEFORE the ending. Idk if it's because we needed it to happen that way since the Arisen and the Dragon is needed to keep the "cycle" going, but I wasn't a fan of how Brant kinda gives up after the Coordination.
You find the Godsway Blade and even with the Godsway staff (if you make an ALT and gift it to yourself while in the Unmoored World) Brant doesn't seem interested anymore once you find both of them.
Isn't that the main reason why we went to Bakbattahl? To learn more about the Godsway. Then we are asked to collect 15 WLC (WyrmsLife Crystals) to give to the enemy. Why couldn't we just go to Brant and take back Vernworth? Sven didn't even wanna rule. Just saying.
Then days after the endgame Dragon could just pop up so we fight for World Peace. Therefore not interrupting the cycle as well.
I feel like we are the cause of the Dragon destroying the world. Even if we did't plan to become the Arisen. No wonder why the ppl of Bakbattahl charge us so much to sleep at their Inn. We did make things worse for everyone if you rly think about it. I did't wanna give them the sword. But we had no other choice.
Why couldn't we have Vernworth Castle as our home? Isn't the Arisen is supposed to be Royalty in Vernworth? And then we see a 3rd Godsway (the flower necklace that the fake Arisen had.) But it's never found again. Neither is the false Arisen. I hope the upcoming DLC sheds light on that BC I am curious. Where did he go?
What about the lady who sold us the 30K home in Vernworth? She said she found a better place, but where? The brine made it so we couldn't leave. So where did she go?
Also not everyone went back to save Melve. Not everyone helps her become the leader of Harve Village. So when you end up in the Unmoored World and (even if you save everyone), get the achievement and all that. It does not feel accurate since most of us got them all killed. Especially the first gameplay around.
Even deeper you never spoke about the Unmoored World. I feel like its a place worth mentioning since it is the best place to collect WLC. Each new game you will aquire new gear. And with the 300+ WLC that you will earn from saving everyone and defeating all the Dragons (Red Beacons), you could use that place to Dragonforge all your gear. Making each new game feel worthwhile. For those who did not know. Their is some rare armor there. Also all you have to do is climb to the dragons belly and use the Godsbane Blade on its belly (wound) to get there.
You spoke on combat, but you never spoke about the Wayfarer Vocation. Did you not find it yet? Did you not bring 4 Liquors to the guy at the Hot Springs in Volcanic Island? Did you not like being able to switch multiple weapons in combat? Being able to attack close and far as well as "float upward" with staffs/wands to reach harder locations. BC this made my combat experiences much more enjoyable. Even exploration. Even with the lack of monster variety. I will admit. It did feel repetitive. Esp. On my 7th time around.
Here's my opinions on what I disagree with...
1.) There is 3 ways of travel. Not 2.
Once you Reach Bakbattahl you can use the Skyline to reach Volcanic island. I feel like there is 3 ways of travel since that is also another way. Even if its only to 2/3 cities that it goes to.
2.) Climbing to fight Gigantus
With the Magick Archer/Wayfarer Vocations, you could have waited until "Talos" reached the land, use the skill that targets the weak spots on his body and collected the Wakestone shards off the sticks that fell off his body. So why do all that climbing? And as for the higher parts on his face you could have used the higher parts of land and got him in the higher areas before he reached Volcanic Island. I am just confused to how you did all that climbing? All those stamina curatives could have went to something else. That must have been exhausting.
I enjoy your interest in Dragons Dogma and I will be looking forward to hear everything that you and the DEV team has to say/show about the game. I can't wait to see what happens next. Maybe we can become the next Pathfinder even. Who knows. Possibilities are endless since nobody rly knows what the Dragon Princess will bring to the table.
It’s fascinating how despite the world being so much bigger, the story feels significantly smaller.
When it comes to campfires, your camp can be destroyed randomly if you haven’t cleared the area you haven’t played the game enough to come access that situation me thinks
I am deeply disappointed. I expected much more after 12 years; The game is gorgeous, but its limitations bring enthusiasm down dramatically. I couldn't get the NG+ going.
Great video but I have to address one thing. I think we are at a point in game critique where we have to address larger industry issues affecting game releases. This game clearly wasn’t finished but was rushed to release by management because they knew hype was enough to sell copies. it’s not crazy to assume the devs aren’t happy about how the game turned out because management made a financial and terrible decision
Yeah I think its certainly worth thinking about, especially with how bad the industry is now. But I don't want to use stuff like that as an excuse everytime something is disappointing or flawed. Because thats what fans always do to cope whenever a game they were hyped for turns out to be bad/mid. And nothing I've seen in regards to this game seems to suggest they were actively hindered in any big way. I mean they had 12 years since the first, and at least 5 years of active dev time on DD2; that's plenty of time to not only make a complete game, but also improve upon the issues of the first. And since so many of the games issues are central to how it's fundamentally designed (or just issues carried over from the first), it leads me to believe that this is just on the devs/director themselves. Sure, the microtransactions are VERY dumb, but capcom adds that into every game now and they've released plenty of recent games that were great, so I definitely don't think that is evidence either lol.
I do understand your point though, it is worth keeping in mind. I just don't think it applies here lol. Thanks for checkin out the video!
I think that is the key issue with this game. A lot of the repetition, like fighting mostly goblins again or all the caves looking the same all feel like they were place holders, but management saw it and said "meh, good enough, ship it as is" just to cut corners and rush the payout from release. That's probably why the story is honestly so shit too, it's probably not even half baked.
Don’t forget about the AllHeal potion that can fill your lost gauge out in the wild without camping or resting at an inn.
Nice video, my friend. I agree with most of your points about DD2. However, I have one thing to disagree: DD2 was not DD1 remake. In fact, it even downgrades many good points of DD1, for example: the endgame contents and classes. While DD1 is not a perfect game, it provides me more and more fun the deeper I explore the mechanics (lots of these mechanics were thrown away in DD2, for details you guys can watch Nihil0.0 vids) and the more I explore the endgame dungeons (Everfall, BBI,...). DD1 open world is small and there are still a lot backtracking, but since it's small it doesn't feel much overbloated and tiresome to explore like DD2.
I'd even argue that the base game of DD1 is already better than DD2. DD1 errors like enemies variety, bland questlines...are still in DD2, but it's not getting better, it get worse when they ignore those glaring issues and try to fix things that doesn't even need fixing.
I completely agree with you
The relationship aspect as well
In DD1 every unique character you can have special relationship with stands out a lot, whereas, DD2 makes you think no matter who you romance, none of that matters after endgame anyways
In DD1 you can even have your romance in your house too
End game is substantially better than the prior base game’s. Unless you like exploring a massive chunk of unfinished content. The unmoored world completely dumps on the everfall. I really don’t think there’s much room for debate there. But yeah BBI was obviously more substantive end game content.
There are many substantial improvements/innovations like the physics, for example. Imo it’s more steps forward than back, but there are definitely steps back. All of which are worth talking about. Too often I see people talk about “how much better” or whatever. I was there for DD1 at launch. Which had just as many issues and valid complaints for months and months. Let’s hope they handle people’s feedback much better this time.
@@ToliG123 >"The unmoored world completely dumps on the everfall. I really don’t think there’s much room for debate there"
I disagree, there're plenty of aspects worth mentioning:
+First, the Unmoored world has time limits. You'll have approximately 10-12 in-game days to complete the quests before the whole map is swallowed up by the fog and you receive a special game over cutscene.. On paper, this seems like a good idea; however, in reality it limits the replayability of endgame contents. Once beating it, there's no way to go back, and there are no more challenging contents in the main game, either.
+Second, you can choose not resting, abusing wakestones and not beating the boss at Seafloor Shrine Pillar to stay in the Unmoor World indefinitely, but what's the point? The only way to continue to play the endgame contents is to not beating it? Look at DD1 Everfall, while it's true that it's an unfinished game, it does not lock you out of end game contents even after you've beaten all of Everfall rooms.
About the physic point, I kinda agree. That's among the few things that they really did take a step forward. Also, I really appreciate the fact that they introduce the Beastren into DD, a nice addition.
@@huyvouc9785 Not only that but DD1 also had the unmoored world gameplay: once you beat the dragon all bossmonsters on the map where replaced with stronger versions, even the smaller ones where replaced with them AND you had the everfall. Sure the water didnt disapear but how much did that really matter in DD2?
Gaming has become all about the money, the industry doesn't appreciate the players anymore, we are cash cows.
pause to heal? theres a quick slot for that, one you can use at 0hp even.
The friction of the lack of fast travel is. Because traveling is fun and the things that happen on the road are the meat of the game and the quests just a reason to travel at all.
Most games are lame without any variety in the level the second time u pass a location.
Only real complaint I had was the enemy variety. Other then than that it’s probably my favorite game of the year so far. Really hope they decide to do some sort of dlc later but it doesn’t seem to be that much of a priority
DD2 for me feels like 1step ahead but 2step back lol
Its like they literally got the formula especially with Dark Arisen, yet they make DD2 become basic again with less of mobs type and underwhelming equipments for me, this should've been DD1.5 lmao
Oh THAT''s how you were supposed to beat the wolf quest! I just randomly roamed further and further away from the flower patch after seeing my hired pawns act all weird and kinda try to hint me go that direction and then finally found the kid. That was one of the most confusing quests I've seen in a long time. Didn't help that the quest was timed, it added a lot of stress to the situation. And I also bumped into the Lich on that quest and absolutely assumed it was somehow related only for it not to be at all.
Man, you nailed it. I really enjoyed this game for a while, but the story is so unfinished its almost offensive. Cant wait for Dragon’s Dogma 2 Dark Arisen 2
I dont mind jumping on now and then just to travel from one campfire to the next. I will never hate this game.
i hate how hard it is but I can't bring myself to hate it😂 the game is just great for me (skill issues btw)
@@dielog2211 what you mean hard
@@yougottrolled5799 i think at the very beginning the game is surprisingly challenging. i remember getting my ass kicked by two centaurs at level 8 or something. but the more you play, and the lack of any scaling-- you end up being disgustingly strong at a certain point and the game doesn't offer challenges at all anymore lol. killing griffins in like 15 seconds and whatnot.
@ChrisOfChin oh yeah it became easier later but that just shows how far you come.
@@ChrisOfChinthe dlc will fix this just like the first game
I was going to buy this game but it has all the same problems i had with the first one for 1 stamina drains out of combat thats 1 of the stupidest things to do in a game with little fast travel not only that but the lack of rewards is even worst
Lol I totally forgot to mention the stamina thing, but yeah that really bothered me too. Especially with that God awful sound your character makes when you run out lmao. You should definitely have unlimited sprint outside of combat.
If they add more enemies and bosses this could be my favorite game
This ended up on my recommended after getting sucked into dragons dogma: da. Crazy to see all you have created, good stuff - wish you the best!
Ayyye thanks man!
I wouldn't have mind the constant running back and forth if they went with some kind of mount. It's what killed the fun of the game for me.
Hmm yeah a mount, or some way to at least temporarily get a mount, could have been interesting. To be fair tho, I do like the IDEA of limited fast travel, but I just wish the game was smaller, it had more enemy variety, and the quests weren't so sterile (Ideally all 3 combined lol)
I have to disagree with the campfire being no risk...I was very low on health and didn't want to go all the way back to town so I used camp. Halfway through the night I got raided by a horde and I almost died. Luckily survived tho. Made me think twice now if I want to camp or just go to town.
I uninstalled it. It just got bored
@Chris, what games do you think are worth buying rn?
Well if youre looking for another fantasy RPG, I'd definitely recommend Elden Ring+ The DLC lol. I also enjoyed FF16 despite some issues. But some of my other favorites from the past few years have been Alan Wake 2, Returnal, the RE4 remake, Neon White, Norco, Lies of P, Armored Core 6, Zelda TOTK (despite some classic open world issues lol), and I quite enjoyed Helldivers 2 for a bit. Not a super big multiplayer guy any more lol, but I have still been playing Hunt: Showdown every once in a while. Actually been kinda going through some older games recently lol, finally dove into the old Silent Hill games.
I think the most damning thing with 2 for me personally is that despite everything this game somewhat improved on, i keep asking myself 'why wouldn't i just play the first game again'
Feel like it’s gonna be a sorta Skyrim thing going on with mods giving wayyy more interesting stories and characters. I loved it in the beginning, I love exploring but I hated the quests sending me EVERYWHERE and then just walking the same path to finish it.
you are so right, it's literally the first game... again. With almost all of the mistakes in it... again. just wow what a disappointment. Monster hunter, a franchise they own, has better loot and combat systems than any dragons dogma.
I think Capcom forced the dev team to release this early. It seems like alot is missing. It's scary when the title screen doesn't even say Dragons Dogma 2. I feel they are gonna release a $40-$50 DLC that has all the content and updates that are missing so they can squeeze more money out of this flawed remake, sequel. Smh...maybe ill just wait for Monster Hunter Wilds
Great vid. I haven't finished as of writing but the title is spot on as have been your criticisms thus far. The game is literally a bit of a mess. There is still a lot of fun to be found in the gameplay and exploring the world and I did sink a lot of hours. However, it feels less like a solid, high-fantasy action RPG game and more like a really shitty attempt at open-world Monster Hunter that had to release before they got all the fluff added and ended up releasing a surprisingly sub-standard framework to what could have been an otherwise amazing game. I can hardly remember or point towards any quests that were really interesting, main/story, side-quest or otherwise. My gameplay highlights were finding Medusa, or a dragon in some cool spire/tower area... or I guess fighting a Dullahan on a bridge late at night. Also my thicc asf pawn in the corset.
I am sure Capcom is already developing or is waiting to develop a paid DLC expansion (a la Dark Arisen) that will likely address a good few problems, while still ignoring many, whether it's in the form of base-game fixes or just an entirely separate piece of content that works better than the base-game story. I really genuinely felt no connection to the story nor did I feel like I was the Arisen, and they may as well have dropped the entire "you are an arisen" plotline and just had me making my way up in a high-fantasy medieval world because the story missions did absolutely nothing for me. The story only got interesting watching Talos (fight felt just like a joke gimmick), and fighting Grigori, plus the "true ending" post-game was somewhat neat.
Highlights of the game were basically just the gameplay itself as the narrative was so unbelievably weak. It was cool to travel, see the sun set, travel at night, camp, fight big monsters and see larger or stronger variations again (Gore "X"'s and whatever else). Even then, they reduced variety between the classes (even the same class) due to less skills/abilities that you can use compared to the first game. Lessened the fashion variations by combining classes of clothing/armor and stuck with the same sort of tier-based "time to buy the next set of best armor available that I unlocked at the vendor!". Meh. I thought I would get absorbed and it would be GOTY but instead I suffered through poor performance and a skeleton story to ultimately drop the game in the post-game after the sky turned fucking red. I think I will return to it, as I did enjoy it, it wasn't a total flop shitshow game, just really negatively subverted my expectations. The moment you're getting like 18fps in the INTRO TUTORIAL SEQUENCE ALONE on console should have made Capcom realize "we can not fucking release this game in the state that it is in currently".
Also I forgot to talk about the difficulty as well (as you did). The camping, the loss-meter for max-health, the item-healing, crafting items.... all of it served effectively as providing "a challenge" for me at the beginning. However, once you can kill things way too quickly due to the lack of scaling or difficulty options, none of that even matters... and it doesn't take long. I unfortunately explored the entirety, and I mean THE ENTIRETY of Vermund before I went to Battahl. That led to the entire half of the game following the "border crossing" to consist of maybe 1minute30seconds MAX DURATION for any large monsters that I fought. Never died, never had a threat of dying or losing progress due to having soooo many wakestones piled up. Fast-travel being sparse didn't matter when money income was high enough that you could constantly use Portcrystals to travel to a city, and replenish the one you just used at a vendor for 20,000, plus the rate at which they drop and are rewarded, coupled with oxcarting. UGH It's just all so frustrating. They made a whole different game and somehow managed to PERFECTLY REPLICATE THE SAME FEELING that DD1 gave you of "this game could be so much more than it is if they just let us see it before they released it or listened to our criticisms, or passed it on a pre-release to another seperate studio to play around in for a few weeks so they can give their input.
Holy shit. The wolf mission with the kid and the guard jail mission were two moments I was questioning my intelligence or wondering if I missed something. Glad to see it being recognized as some stupid ass shit. How was I ever going to find that kid lol. I genuinely thought the game had bugged out in both of these quests.
Hey so you do find out who the fake arisen guy was (you said you don't think that you even find out who he was). If you go to a hidden village area in Vermund, it's like some hidden thief village where they are all basically ninjas, you can learn about him there. I don't remember exactly how but there's a path leading to it that is blocked off (but not blocked off on the map), and somehow you're supposed to know that you can bypass the rocks and go around through some other route. Once you do, you get to the village. It's a bit sketchy and you talk to this big head honcho guy of the village who basically dismisses you after teaching you a master skill for the thief class. If you poke around more, you find an underground hideout that is the "true" thief village and the actual leader is in there(???) and you do some really loose and easy parkour challenge for like 30 seconds. Then he tells you everything you want to know about the current fake Arisen, and gives you yet another skill. He basically says that he was a thief of their village and he did some stupid shit and fucked off. yeah idk I can't remember it much and this is certainly a bastardized summary.
Ahhhh okay yeah I did that thief mission (One of the more interesting ones IMO) and I totally forgot he gives you some info about the fake arisen. But do they expand on him any more than just that? And do you ever meet him? Because unless there's some out of the way side quest I missed, I definitely didnt have any actual interaction with that guy. And I certainly didnt like how that plotline got kinda disregarded with the ending lol.
Glad you liked the video!!
It's fun, playing it for 30hours then I realize. It is the same game with better graphics. Repetitive monsters. I wish they had more monster types.
I hated this game so much when I played it at launch and this video is bringing back all that anger. The worst quest system I've ever witnessed and I'll never give capcom money for a game on day one ever again
yeah because capcom has been making bad games recently right? right? like re4 sf 6 mhw dmc 5 right ?
Enemy variety is a deal breaker. Too many games (BG, ER, Diablo, etc etc) get this right to piss with DD. I have more enemy types in miniatures for TTRPG's than they do in this game ffs. Try again with DD3 Capcom - there's something to build on here, but this isn't a fleshed out game.
Just finished my 72 hour play through. Overall I had a good time with it, I had played the first one so it met my low expectations with enemy variety and quest design. But yeah by the end game I felt like I was just sprinting to the next interesting quest marker as fast as possible. I thought the masquerade and palace sneaking quests were a cool idea, but they were so convoluted and had unclear requirements to work that I ended up just running circles in the city for three hours. The Talos fight was so goofy, I was halfway across the map, ended up googling to find out that it was a time limited quest so I just sprinted frantically after them and caught the tail end of the fight. The quest design was... Pretty confusing. All in all though, I still enjoyed the combat mechanics for a laid back afternoon, and the cinematic endings still had me hyped up for the finale. (Though... Only 3 boss designs for the finale? Really) All this to say, felt a lot like when I played the first game, just with a bigger world, different angle, and some hidden gems.
But what about the real ending when you do the added content by talking to the guy instead of sitting on your throne towards the end? Seems like that entire area is about the role of the Arisen and a bigger story
Yeah I did the unmoored world. I think If you make the player spend 40-60 hours running errands, building towards one story about the queen, false arisen, etc. And then drop all of that and say "The REAL story is about what happens in the last 3 hours" then I think you have a massive problem with your story lol. Also I do find it funny that someone else said something similar about the real story being at the end of the game, except they told me the real story was about your pawn gaining freedom. So I think its safe to say that even this "real" story is obviously not conveyed well enough for even the fans of the game to figure out what it means lol.
@@chrisrivera7530 thats a good point
Really good review! Your points about the combat are really interesting and I find that the worst thing is the wasted potential. IF you choose to engage with each Vocation's skillset and enemy patters there's actually a crazy amount of depth in terms of what skills can do, how they can be applied outside of their usual purpose and how the combat ties back to boss enemies. Even a base class like fighter has a crazy amount of detail put into them. Problem is though, you never have to actually do it and you're correct: wailing on the enemy just gets the job done so it all goes out the window. Lack of a hard mode and dynamic behaviour of bosses killed the experience eventually for me. Emergent gameplay is a fantastic idea and DD does it well...until you figure out its smoke and mirrors and you don't have to do it.
The most important things they need to implement, in order.
1. Hard mode.
2. More speeches from the pawns. Particularly the mainoawn when you are doing a duo run. Might be able to add an online ai service but that may be asking too much.
3. A new game mode with enemy level scaling
4. More enemy variants. And including, elite enemy variants. For example, a goblin group has a chance to randomly spawn a jacked up hobgoblin. Thats besides adding new enemies. Like the cockatrice, more drake variants, insect like monsters, etc.
5. More armor options with armor customizations. (First game had gloves and boots also.)
6. A quest notice board that we the player can post for other players and auto generated quests with satisfying rewards.
7. More freedom for character customizations. Like covering the shoulder if you want to add a blackout style tattoo. (If they add a few more hairstyles and modifiers for the physical appearance, even better. Like females having adams apple is not exactly common to begin with).
8. Adaptive enemy AI. This should be included in the enemy scaling game mode. Since you wont be able to simply blow a hoard of goblins in 2 seconds, they can adapt and kinda counter your approach, if its a repeated action, tactic. This way, timing for critical hits and counters are actually useful and needed.
9. More weapons. Preferably even weapon variants. For example, the fighter uses swords and maces. So the ranger can use shortbow or longbow. The shortbow fires a bit faster and has a different range fall off vs longbow having better range and hitting harder. The sorcerer can use a staff or a book which changes the attack animations a bit. Or the spear for mysticspear, add a halberd, pike type also that had better knockback compared to the spears slash and pierce. The thieve gets another form of short range weapon similar to daggers, tonfas for example.
10. Random events during your travels. We already got little events like saving a person in need or random escorts. But its not enough. Having ambushes set by bandits or goblins. Random boss spawns. Rogue pawns attack you due to the dragonsplague, sort of a boss battle. That would make the world feel even more alive.
Edit: Wanted to add that, nothing can really be done by the lack of story currently. But they can add more books and parchments that explain further lore. And when they release the dlc, they will need to deliver a concrete story for it, with, all the updates that I mentioned previously.
None of these things are happening lol this was a waste of a comment this is describing a brand new game none of this will be added in a simple patch or update
Sidequests are a bit bland and weirdly implemented/resolved at times. It does have moments of brilliance though. Eg. sphinx quest. I think the biggest problem with the main plot is that there are no main antagonists, and people just disappearing from the story after certain events. The gameplay + pawn system are fun though but it does get stale after a while due to lack of enemy variety and especially from midgame on there is a distinct lack of difficulty. Only being able to use 4 skills at a time is also a bit limiting. So yeah, while I did enjoy my playthrough, there is no motivation to continue in NG+ or replay this, unless they fix some of these issues in a DLC (like enemy variety).
A solid critique. Don’t agree with everything. But I don’t need to in order to appreciate the effort. We all want better things for this game.
I appreciate that man! Glad you got something out of the video 🙏
Devs feel pressure to make a big game to get the playtime up, and with modern tools stretching out a map isn't hard. But they don't seem to realize it isn't fun either.
Actually the kid quest is really hard to keep the kid alive for the reasons you described. So for ne he was killed. Whivh is a really dark ending.
I’m curious what a true DD2 can be, I enjoyed the game kind of played the original a little bit, but was really excited for this one when I seen the trailer it was a very fun game but agree with you there were things that they could have improved on that they didn’t here is hoping they do in the next game
Just like with the first game, I could've forgiven so many of its shortcomings if the combat was good. And people were saying in previews how the combat felt the same as the original. Cool, I thought! So it's gonna feel chunky and snappy.
...Huh???
No, compared to the first game the combat feels floaty, stodgy, and unbelievably clunky. You can't jump cancel end lag, skills that were brought back were stripped down to feel worse, and it's way too easy to get stunlocked in this game. The ragdoll physics ended up ruining the weight of combat, and having only 4 skills instead of 6 really started to hurt the longer I played it for. Just like with being a mix of friction and dumb fun, it felt like they wanted to have combat with more animation commitment and strategy but still wanted to have it be a snappy, fast-paced action game like the first one. In trying to do both, they completely botched how it felt.
I still haven't beaten it. The game wanted me to deliver something to a guy in an area I wasn't allowed to be in so I just gave up. If this game was Itsuno's true vision then that's fair. But his statement about fast travel comes off as arrogant in hindsight. My concerns for this game started when it was stated that it'd be 4 times the size of the original and I was right.
And Dark Arisen's been my favourite game for 10 years so this game just made me sad. If nothing else, its upcoming release prompted me to build a PC so that's something!
Im similar, i LOVED the first 15-20 hours so i decided to go for the plat bc thats what i do when i really enjoy a game. And usually, that feeling even through the platinum journey, doesnt ever really fade and i finish with some happiness of seeing everything in a game I enjoyed and even tend to go back from time to time. However with this game, by the time i finished, i set up a good pawn quest and deleted the game with absolutely no desire to go back. I might if we get a dlc, but i shared A LOT of gripes that you had as well and honestly it left more of a sour taste once i finished.
Hey mate, great review!
Not sure if I agree with you on the matter of low stakes due to many camps available everywhere.
Losing your progress in a single player game never rly helps the experience and you end up loading the game for a different outcome anyway…
When the friction mechanic turns into a feeling that playing this game is „like a job” then you lose even more interest I suppose?
@mbra8228 Thanks for checking out the video! Glad you liked it!
And yeah losing progress isnt necessarily "fun" (certainly not in the traditional sense lol) but the point is that I think the fear of losing it adds tension to the experience because now there's something tangible to lose. Having an actual failstate adds a bit of risk into the equation and forces you to actually make choices about how to proceed with certain situations. And since the game is clearly trying to have some friction in its design, I really wish they would have embraced this angle. Because without it, yeah I just think the friction of walking everywhere just becomes a bit tedious lol. Thanks again for watching!
@@chrisrivera7530 Travel was tedious in comparison to other ARPG's but I think it was done very well. The game lines up very nicely when you get the swing of the ox carts, put down 2 or 3 well places port crystals. To me the design was neat if you actually did swap vocations and explore the games different options for combat levelling vocations wasn't tedious because it paced nicely with the lack of instant fast travel. Not for every player I suppose as most of us have been conditioned with easy fast travel. I really did like the design choice - I think they were clever in monetizing camps and fast travel because it was clearly a publishing requirement, but for any gamer playing the game as intended they were absolutely not required. Fail states and not being able to finish some quests etc is annoying, but you're heavily encouraged to do more than one playthrough. E.g. I failed the sphinx and couldn't get the achievement my first playthrough.
7:46 I actually encountered that dragon at night and it completely destroyed my resources and killed all my pawns and my last inn save was like 2 hours before so I fking ran for my life and IT FOLLOWED me for quite a bit, damn night in this game is amazing you literally can’t see danger until you are next to it
9:40 you can’t actually choose which save to use it s just the last save so it s not always good for you
I had a lot of problems with the game running properly even with a high-end system.
I guess they patched it to run a little better but then the game itself didn't really wow me that much.
It's okay but I regret buying it now.
Tbh playing with only my main pawn has been way more fun
the really sad part is that if they had actually just remade DD1/DA but with the new tech and added stuff to the story it would've been infinitely better than 2. you actually get to fight the ultimate dragon and god in DD1/DA
?? We also fight the Dragon in 2…
@@tariqueisso you do NOT fight the ultra dragon of post game, you crawl on its back as one big setpiece and you dont get to fight god.
what you're thinking of is the basic final battle which isnt radically different from the first because it isnt supposed to be
@@_Sage967_ nonsense, after flying in it’s back I fought it on the ground, I’ve played bro 😅
@@tariqueisso you do not fight Nex the brine dragon of post game you are again thinking of the NORMAL dragon who is the final boss of the base game that you have to avoid fighting to even get into the post game
either you forgot or you havent gotten the true ending
@@_Sage967_ oh, there’s another bigger dragon besides the one who took the ariren’s heart? I didn’t knew
i agree with dd2 criticism but tell me you think elden ring has no flaws right ??and it has amazing combat of roll and attack
So what you're saying is... GOTY material?
Yep. If there were a total of 3 games that came out in 2024, this would definitely be a top 5 game 100% 😎👍
No it sucks
@@robertrainford6754 Quality has never been a metric for GOTY nominees.
@@immortanjones9136 I know just look at god or war or Elden ring
@@robertrainford6754 Yeah, I'll take the bait. There have been no good video games since 2001.
Unrelated, but how exactly do the Horizon games suffer from a lack of variety?
I was really excited for this game and had never played the original. So as preparation I put a bunch of hours into the original. Finished the main game and then a bunch of time in the DLC and end game content. And although it had issues I had a good time and was really excited for the new and improved version that fixed all the issues and had a next gen sensibility and then I played it. And it was literally the same exact game. This isn’t a sequel. It’s a remaster. Not even a remake because the issues are all still there. Just a newer coat of paint over essentially the same exact game. And I had no interest in playing exactly what I just played over again. It is the definition of disappointment. The enemy variety and boring loot are such easy fixes that should have been priority after the original. I just don’t get some of the decisions made with this.
I´m one of those players who has done game ng+++ and level 200 character. I have to agree everything and want to give extra info what you may have missed in combat section. Some perspective i´m fan of first game that i bought it twice for xbox 360 and pc.
I´n combat section you missed huge part what is. Boss enemies have huge weaknesses. Once you know these you can dominate all of them easy. You can pull or push unstable huge enemies you hear small sound when its doable. Also body part moves. For sample when cyclops is on knees you can pull its hand to fully collapse it. Griffing dies nearly instantly explosive arrow head when stunned. Medusa can be instantly killed with intact head with sleeping spell. Then use slashing attack head it detaches full health medusa. Silence spell stuns and disables lot of abilities and even flying. Drake special skills can be stopped by silence or sleep. Also grabling system is there. Canines like meat drop some for them and they stop attacking. Golems has same system from cyclops but fancy extra if you collaps them with grabling. They lose head. Also you can overheat golems by attacking flame attacks toward magic disc. So it releases cooling animation. Like game has lot of things in game. But problem is its so well hidden that i only knew this nearly 200 level and by pawn doing them. Like my pawn was mostly my tank and it just started pulling and grabling giants like nothing. I wondered why is huge monsters eating dirt. Also strong attacks to weak spots cause massive dmg. But anyways.
Some of my perspective toward this game.
I find this game poorly thought out and even some parts disaster in game design. Like whole selling dlc and in general experience of game. I´m not saying is game is god awful. But game needed better system what combines each others goods parts together. Like in your review you explained whole risk / reward system. But in general experience of game. Like early on in this game you will be having some good experience as exploration and some challenge is a thing. But once you hit level 50 past that system just collapses. This game can have player level up 999 level and your characters stats will be capped around 200 level maybe even earlier if you go shrine... Items lose importance as you cannot improve them or purpose of that system like in general dies. Why have different sword when at max you can get magic element to it. Nothing else... When story is awful slob like in you review spoke about game has to much systems what constantly insults players time. Worst part of this game is lack of enemy variety with interesting challenge. Dragon dogma 1 you could kill metal golems what we´re immune all magic. Beast what curses you with death if you do not carry correct supplies. There was city size monsters... This game removed all that. With god awful xp farm curve. Only way you earn levels in this game is this. You get medusa bow. Do ng++++ and collect sphinx reward rings with extra gains. Also to go get drake blood currency buff... Go murder hobo either archerf or waywarer.... Just i grinded rest 130 levels with that it was assenying. Bow gives only xp on kills...
In general if game was infinite farm with infinite progress. I could have played this like 500 levels no problem. But its not. Its game what is chained up with bad ideas what does not build up experience it limits it. I know some reason why for sample stats no longer infinitely grow... SImply because they wanted dodge min/max problem. But they could thing better system. They could honestly given players who has done ng+ reward leviate burden toward player. But no. They make it so clear you never gain nothing good form your deeds... This is how i feel about game.
Also FFS game lacks character creation present save. While they sure remember sell you book to change appearance but no ability to save them...
More reason to wait the "complete/goty/whatever edition" in 2 years or so. Hope they add variety too.
I'm already expecting this, cause I felt the same toward DD1 vanilla back in the first day launch.
DAMN, I'm really glad I checked this game out from a library instead of buying it. It looked really cool, but then I kept seeing issues that I feel like should have been fixed back in the 2010s.
I'm a lot more skeptical abou massive triple A open world games, so I don't really buy em anymore. Thanks for this video, I won't be wasting any more time on this.
Its about time to play my indie games now.
Glad people are speaking out this game needs a lot of work. I like it but it’s not as good as the first game in my opinion.
Same thing i said as well. DD:DA is still the superior game of the two.
Idk it says open world but lots of very narrow corridors. Open World should be more vertical and wide landscapes. Most rpgs don't pull it off when going for realistic graphics. As for combat, this is why I cannot get into most action rpgs. When they do the hack and slash. Like hitting a titan with a fly swatter. X,X,X,X,X,X,special move.x.x.x.x.x.x
They didn't just remade the game, they remade DD1 not DDDA... like, why?
Unfortunately all true, I wish this game was the best thing to come out but it's just a disappointment
The pathfinding needs to be addressed asap! It’s probably the worst I’ve seen in any game for about 6 years.
Overhyped boredom.
Bitter sweet they took a step forward and back at the same time but this newest update helps elevate some of those issues I still find it lacking especially the monster variety and the sphix is disappointing the only way to kill it is with the arrow even tho I chunked it down to 0 it gets a shield and fly’s away it’s very weird. Still a good game if you enjoyed the first one
I have killed the sphinx with knives as a thief, and also as a mystic spearhand
The performance isn't the only problem but its the problem thats the most frustrating and disappointing. Aside from performance the biggest problem is enemy ai breaking. It may be funny the first few times griffins derp out and decide to get a brine bath but it gets infuriating the 8th time and you're actively trying to either enjoy fighting them or need their materials.
That wolf quest was dumb
The problem is, people never see the good parts of a game. They only see and comment on the things they don’t like, and they take the good things for granted. No game is perfect, I love dragons dogma 2 but I know that it’s not the best game.
I mean, objectively speaking, I do talk about the stuff I liked about the game lol. It takes up the whole first part of the video, so im not just only commenting on the things I don't like.
But I also don't like the view of "no game is perfect, therefore we shouldn't really criticize things". I just think that stance is incurious and boring lol. I love art, and I love the analysis of art. Simply brushing off any attempt at critique or deeper insight just kinda makes everything clump together in one big category of "Games that are not perfect", which is lame. Engaging with art on more than just the surface level allows for much more interesting analysis and reflection and it can both define your own tastes, and give you a better understanding of certain elements of the medium itself. There are plenty of games that I think are not good, but I had really interesting or memorable experiences with them, so I view them more fondly than games that have less apparent problems. And that's the fun part about engaging with art! It can offer different experiences! But if we look no deeper than "No game is perfect" then you start to venture into the surface level mindset "Don't think, just buy and consume, then buy more". Which is basically Ubisoft and EA's whole model lmao.
Also I kinda disagree on the no game is perfect stance too lmao but thats beside the point.
That wolves one was absolutely annoying asf. I had to find a damn RUclips video for that one.
This is the most accurate critique of this game I’ve heard so far.
Its so sad that only the combat is good about this game the rest is really mid. Story, loot, exploration etc.
And somehow the combat in DD2 is more sluggish that DDDA. For example you can't directly attack from sheath mode in DD2
You perfectly put my disappointment with this game into words.
Thanks for checkin out the video!
I honestly stopped playing half way through. I enjoy the combat but it and the move/magic easily became repetitive and lack luster. I might finish it later this year but I'm definitely not in any rush.
Good video agree with everything basically, the people complaining in the comments gotta be blind, its fine being like the first one but they coulda atleast fix the stuff people complained about it for the first one
if you sleep at a camp a monster can come & tear the whole thing down so it always felt like a risk reward thing 2 me. plus ur always weighing whether 2 stop or keep pushing juuust a little longer its fun!
lack of fast travel very much does force you to prepare for trips ahead of time, i wound up in soo many situations where i was stuck in pitch darkness scrambling for any type of safety while scared for my life avoiding packs of enemies with like no health, frustrating but memorable:)
monster variety sucks but the enemies were given a lot more care due to the limited selection. they are a lot more reactive than you give them credit for imo. also comparing the enemy variety to elden ring is hilariously unfair for any game.
the vocations all felt very different to me, two handed sword is veeery slow and deliberate in contrast to thief or fighter.archer has a really cool slide thing u can do like u can pull some real legolas moves its great. sorcerer and whatever the other one was called are two entirely different approaches to magic.
also calling the unmoored world a ”slightly changed” version of the regular map is very strange.
i could keep going but honestly this game sucks and the first one is way better. i like the video btw its rly well made
I got a good 130 hours out of maxing out the vocations. After that it just got boring fighting the same few enemies over and over and over again
It’s hilarious because you kill the false arisen at the end when phasus summons the lesser dragon and it’s almost impossible to even notice I only realized after watching a video on it the story is so disappointing
i like these 30-40min vids, really showcases ur funny, new sub👆🏿
Lol thanks! Glad you enjoyed the video!
I don’t think you got the real final, it’s not just that 😅 the majority of people complaining of this game didn’t really played.
I have seen all the different endings and mentioned that in the video. I did the unmoored world, and I looked it up to see if I missed anything else, and I did not. The unmoored world is kinda cool in theory but I think asking players to spend 40-60+ hours running errands, only to be rewarded with a slightly altered map, a red tint, and more of the same gameplay isnt exactly thrilling lol. And this "real" ending still doesnt address basically anything in that main series of quests with Captain Brandt lol.
Great video! For me The Game it's a huge step back, first Game wasnt perfect, but i hoped a second part had more vocations and enemys
something that i dont hear often praised about the souls games is that they do not make you re-loot when you die.
They probably realised having a game where you die often, re-looting feels teadius and very boring.
In dragon's dogma, and lots of other games which uses saves/auto save on deaths. You willl be re-looting/re oraganizing on eveery death. the only mitigation being quick saving right before a tough fight, if possible.
Love your review , theres no unnecessary hate that most youtubers have on their videos thank you for giving a good and honest!
Thanks for checkin out the video!
THIS is the video Capcom needs to study.
Wait did you not make it to post game? I agree the story is ass but the post game does make it slightly better
@lycoris8425 Yeah I made it through the unmoored world. I think the idea of the unmoored world is kinda neat in theory, but I think asking players to spend 40-60 hours runnings errands only to be rewarded with a slightly altered map, a red tint to the world, and more of the same gameplay is... not exactly great design lol. And even if it does kinda try to do some different story stuff, it 1. Still doesnt actually address what you do for the main quests with the queen/false arisen lmaooo. But 2. Its just kinda too little too late. I probably should have mentioned it in the video, but yeah I think its another aspect of the game thats kinda interesting in theory, but is poorly executed.
Thanks for checking out the video!
200 hours in the game. It has flaws, but it's way better than most games. I'm just a simple Arisen high fiving my harem of giant female pawns.
@@__Weasel__ ah, fellow man of culture 😎
I love the game but I have to agree with you, the game needs more enemies variety. I’m hoping they hear our concerns, we need DLC that fix those issues.
Why do you want to pay even more for the game for them to fix it?
I just miss non open world games now