TGS 2011: Dragon's Dogma Updated Impressions Preview - Customization

Dragon's Dogma, the upcoming fantasy role-playing game from developer Capcom, is putting a Japanese spin on a traditionally Western genre. The house of Street Fighter and Devil May Cry hopes to apply the tight combat mechanics to an open-world setting. The developer's presentation at this year's Tokyo Game Show, presented by Dragon's Dogma producer Hiroyuke Kobayashi, focused on the game's suite of character customization options, as well as a brief combat demonstration.

If you've ever drafted a rogue, warrior, or any other fantasy video game character, then you'll be familiar with the character customization system in Dragon's Dogma. All of the options were divided into four categories: gender, name, build, and voice. Within those categories, there were options galore, as you could choose from dozens of facial and body features. Numerous sliders were also available, should you need to tweak your character's eye width, weight, or bust size.

There was even a posture slider that ranged from "ladylike" to "macho" depending on how you want your character to stand.

Once finished, your character will appear in the game's cinematics exactly as you created him or her. Kobayashi demonstrated this by loading the game's opening cinematic, which featured a sudden dragon attack on a sleepy coastal village. And just as it was getting good, he skipped ahead to a later portion of the game to show off a large castle town. Our character was now a sorceress, an upgraded version of a mage, who didn't have any pants. With our two warrior pawns in tow, her first task was finding some new clothes.

Moving around town wasn't far removed from other open-world, role-playing games; she followed the minimap past all the icons for shops and quest givers until she found an armor store. After buying and equipping a cloak, which was automatically displayed on our character for easy reference before purchase, she circled back to the quest giver and was charged with finding an ancient tome.

Because hunting for books is boring, Kobayashi opted to pit our heroine against a cyclops for fun. Using the game's quick-travel system, he transported her to a cliffside and spotted the creature not far away. By pressing up on the controller's directional pad, he ordered the pawns to attack, thus buying him time to cast the sorceress's devastating spells. He could also press down to have them regroup or use left and right to have them assist his heroine with enchantments, healing items, or other bonuses.

The demonstration came to a mid-battle end with the sorceress laying down sheets of fire and torrents of stone. Dragon's Dogma will be released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on March 27, 2012.