A game deserves a 10 if it meets three of my categories. If you have not chained your controller to your arms yet please do so before playing. And the best thing I can say? Even now, I'm already itching to get back in.If you have not chained your controller to your arms yet please do so before playing. But Dragon's Dogma still feels enjoyably unique four years on and that's something few of its genre cousins can claim. It's rough in parts, and numerous other RPGs tell a better story or inspire greater awe. Alas, they're prone to spouting obvious, ceaseless chatter such as "These stairs serve as a useful route in their own right," but happily Dark Arisen lets you switch that off. There's a satisfying Pokémon-like appeal to trying them out (which you'll need to since they don't level with you), and having to let go of a well-geared, well-skilled pawn sometimes stings like the death of a fleshed-out character in another RPG. You get a main pawn that other players can summon, and you can summon up to two of theirs as well. They're mysterious beings with classes and skills that fill the blanks of what you need, thus allowing my Warrior to bring along, say, a bow-toting Ranger, a healing Mage, and a powerful Sorcerer-for a price. Nothing sets Dragon's Dogma apart quite like them. Some fare better than others Warriors, for instance, perform pitifully in Dragon's Dogma's many ranged encounters.ĭragon's Dogma still feels enjoyably unique four years on.Įnter the pawns. Sick of one of the main three classes of Fighter, Strider, and Mage? You can easily switch out to another and level its skills or those of six hybrids. The appeal isn't just the fighting (which could benefit from a lock-on) it's also the way it lets you scramble up the arms of cyclopes and slice off the tails of lizard men. So many RPGs could learn from how fun this is. Greatswords crash with hefty weight, arrows fly with satisfying thwapps, and spells impale ogres with icy tendrils. Jobs can be fun, of course, and Dragon's Dogma delivers a challenging brand of action that's rousing regardless of whether it's played on the keyboard or with a gamepad. Scarred with imperfections but entertaining to the end, Dragon's Dogma is easily one of the most memorable RPGs of the last decade. (A single crash over 50 hours aside, it ran beautifully.) Still, that's cause for celebration. It's a port, all right, which is to say that it's here and it does little to distinguish itself from its console forebears aside from nifty features like better textures and uncapped framerates.
DRAGON39S DOGMA DARK ARISEN SECRETS PC
Now, at last, we have the PC port, which takes its guise from 2013's Dark Arisen, a retooled version of the initial release with a ridiculously tough endgame zone and numerous tweaks to various annoyances. Graphics have advanced, scores of better and lesser RPGs have come and gone, but there on the stones of the Bluemoon Tower, I still relished the return of the same rush of victory that overcame me in 2012. I already knew how all this would end: I spent many sleepless nights with Dragon's Dogma's appealing mix of Western RPG stylings and Monster Hunter-inspired combat years ago when it first dropped for the Xbox 360.