Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen Review
Game Emblems
The Good
If we were to compare Skyrim and DD:DA, if would be like describing the core difference between fat and muscle.
Dark Arisen adds some great new content to the excellent Dragon's Dogma, though the new dungeon's unbalanced difficulty turns fun into frustration.
The Good
- Bitterblack Isle features lots of great battles with fearsome foes
- Ominous atmosphere and pensive story enhance tension on the isle
- Eternal ferrystone eases the burdens of long journeys
- The main game remains a special thrill.
The Bad
- The grueling final third of the new dungeon lacks any sense of balance or fun
- Pawns require more babysitting than ever.
On Bitterblack Isle, there's always something nasty lurking in the darkness. Perhaps it's a ferocious wolf that snarls and charges, forcing you to run to safety or block its substantial weight. Maybe it's a two-story-tall ogre, once restrained by impossibly strong chains, now on the loose and hungry for entrails. Or it might be the chilly grasp of death itself, the grim reaper floating menacingly toward you and threatening eternal sleep.
This island dungeon harbors many fears, and is the main new attraction in Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen, a rerelease of one of 2012's best role-playing games, with new content added to tempt the faithful back to the city of Gran Soren and beyond. Strangely, Bitterblack Isle isn't available to you any other way, though it would seem to be a prime candidate for release as a downloadable add-on. In any case, if you're a Dragon's Dogma veteran, seeing this new content means buying a new version of the game for $40, though the extensive dungeon is no small morsel, which makes it an intriguing proposition for returning adventurers. What a pity, then, that much of the new content gets in its own way, sometimes making it difficult to enjoy the story's hushed mystery and the undeniable thrills of felling a gargantuan winged cockatrice.
If you're new to Dragon's Dogma, however, be prepared for a journey unlike any other. The core game is a flawed beauty, an almost-classic that merges the open-air qualities of Western role-playing games with the harsh delights and frustrations of Capcom's own Monster Hunter series. The setting is the fantasy land of Gransys, which is flush with soft greens, browns, and grays; it's a weary place, burdened by the colossal creatures that roam its plains. Dragon's Dogma looks initially bland, but the soft consistent hues allow ornate towers to cut a powerful silhouette against the swaying trees. An additional disc allows you to install higher-resolution textures to your hard drive (as well as an optional Japanese voice track), which makes Gransys look sharper than before, though not dramatically so.
As described in the original review, Dragon's Dogma comes with its fair share of frustrations, though the wonders overshadow the weaknesses. Most of the standout moments come by way of astounding encounters with cyclopes, griffons, chimeras, and the like, with many such monstrosities looking like various creature parts were grafted together to create fearsome, never-before-seen breeds. If you choose a melee-combat class, you can leap onto these roaring beasts and climb all over them if you desire, stabbing them in the head until they throw you to the ground in a fit of disgust. Or you might summon an icy eruption and fling your foe toward the heavens, if magic is more your style.
Whichever path you follow, these battles are a constant thrill, with monsters rearing up and flailing about as you might imagine they should, presuming you have ever imagined what the progeny of a wolf and a jumbo chicken would look like. You're joined in these endeavors by three helpers--pawns, as they're called--that express unreserved wonder at their surroundings when not setting goblins on fire. "Perhaps we'll find aught of use," one might say as you scavenge for curatives--and a bunch of other times, too. "Attack when it reels!" another calls out in the midst of battle, reminding you of what you already knew. Having the company of pawns is like babysitting curious children, though like curious children, they often do what they wish, even when it isn't the wisest option. They have a way of getting trampled by ogres even when they acknowledge aloud that it's best to attack from behind, and if they're in the midst of casting spells, they probably won't respond to your manual command to regroup.
Dark Arisen's new area, Bitterblack Isle, offers many of the main game's same delights, but it also tips the scales too far toward the "frustrating" end, especially in the final third of your sojourn. You reach Bitterblack Isle by speaking to a shimmering maiden who appears on the docks at Cassardis at nightfall. Her name is Olra, and she is still piecing together her memories of how she came to the dark, dreary island she transports you to. As you make your way through the dungeon's dank passages, a melancholy tale of love and loss forms, related by the groans of an unseen visitor and the etchings that you piece together on a monolithic memorial.
The cheerlessness carries over into exploration. Bitterblack Isle's biggest battles occur in spacious arenas and gardens, though much of the time, you are trudging through narrow corridors, holding your breath lest some flaming lizard reveal itself. Developer Capcom recommends that you be at least level 50 when you enter, and for the first two stages of the dungeon, that seems about right. There are moments that have you uttering profanities during these hours, though, such as at the first appearance of your pursuer, Death, who sometimes appears in a brief, terrifying moment of near-blackness. This dark lord is likely to mercilessly annihilate you along with any pawns nearby before you realize you're meant to do scant amounts of damage, then run before you succumb to his will.
By
Kevin VanOrd, Senior Editor
Kevin VanOrd is a lifelong RPG lover and violin player. When he isn't busy building PCs and composing symphonies, he watches American Dad reruns with his fat cat, Ollie.
269 comments
Setting aside good runs and bad runs via a players mood or state of mind, this game has no rewards. You will get your ass handed to you by foes when you are level 25 as easily as it gets handed to you at level 155. There is no sense of accomplishment for acquiring upgraded weapons, armor etc. it is just an imaginary numbers game. What this game does do however, is emit a strong sense of underhand marketing by the value of rift crystals. Don't believe me? How many times has your pawn(s) been one-shot killed no matter what level after investing your hard earned( or bought) rift crystals? To me, this game is a cleverly disguised cash cow. And we the players are the ones getting milked.
1 Like @riglia Same as Dark Souls eh ? You will get your ass handed to you by rats as easily as Gwyn if you don't have the skill/the level to face the challenge...yet people enjoy Dark Souls...I guess it not for everyone then...
At level 62 I am getting owned by some of the bosses in this insanely difficult add-on. Kevin nailed the review. This game will not be for everyone. But it is for me.
I love a challenge. Gonna go back to the main game, get tooled up and go back to Bitterback Isle and kick it's ass when I'm level 65.
This has been floating around, thought I'd share! Please sign!
http://www.change.org/petitions/capcom-port-dragon-s-dogma-to-pc
I love the shit out of this series! shame they aren't just more polished and even handed with difficulty progression..
I regret to inform you that his comment does warrent an insult, if only for his sarcastic criticism on the work of another based solely on the basis of his own ignorance, combined with the arogence of the comment itself. Is it easy to type this from behind my keybord?, its easier then trying to hack his acount, find out who he is and where he lives and tell him in person that he is an idiot, it would also be a tad expensive.
The one thing we don't need are idiots, or worse, the big
The expansion level is brutally difficult! At level 62 I'm still having trouble with some of the bosses, but that's what keeps me coming back for more! This game is not for the faint of heart or casual RPG gamer!
1 Like @ironballox I had to swap to the Japanese before I wanted to kill him. Even my wife, who doesn't play, would say his like when he started saying it.
Japanese makes the pawns not as annoying either.
@p331360 Ha ha i was playing the game and my gf was in bed trying to sleep and all she kept hearing was "They're Masterworks all, you can't go wrong..." She was going to smash the TV
I don't get why Kevin VanOrd, seems to think Dragon's Dogma is such a great RPG. I personally think it's a fine example of what should be a great RPG, except it's obviously been designed by a complete idiot. One of the first things the game did after I'd made a character, is come up with a message saying "If stuck where to go next, follow the blue marker", so I do and it leads me directly to Bitterblack Island, the hardest part of the game suitable only for characters level 50 or above... Really poor game design. Once I got back from Bitterblack, I got to the captial city and then found that I needed to spend the next few hours griding levels just to get any further... If I wanted griding I would have played World of Warcraft... Another poor excuse for an RPG ><
@peteuplink Sounds like you're new to the game. It's not grinding that you need to do per-say You just need to play through the original game's main story. That alone is enough to get your levels up without a lot of grinding. Keep in mind that Bitterblack Island is an end-game expansion and not meant to be attempted with brand new characters.
As for the marker directing you towards Bitterblack, they definitely should have thought that one through better. It probably shouldn't even be available until you've reached a certain level.
@horizonwriter I had the original version but traded it. I was hoping the Dark Arisen version would have done something to fix the broken game that the first one was, but nope... I realise Bitterblack was an expansion for higher level players, I just didn't expect the game to lead me straight there as soon as I started.
Do you have to be online to play this? It does have an Xbox 360 version right? Thanks for any info!
1 Like To clear this up: I traded the original game to buy the new one! The new game found my old save file and gave me stuff and rolled over my character and main pawn SEAMLESSLY (that's a feat many games fail to achieve). So now I have an enhanced game with excellent new bits for a fraction of the price (AU$25) Awesome!
8 Like While I understand that 7.0 still makes for a good game, I'm not sure if it's a little low for this game.
I happen to find this game amazing. It features an outstandig gloomy atmosphere and a sense for danger most modern games totally lack, and in addition to that, it plays very challenging and interesting.
In my opinion this game is probably as good as Dark Souls and I absolutely love Dark Souls.
Totally agree. Dragons Dogma is an amazing game and the monster fights are quite a delight. In my opinion, the dragon slaying in this game is much much better than in the Dark Souls/Demon Souls games. In Demon/Dark souls you have to carry around 150 or 200 arrows, find a safe spot and keep shooting at the dragon until it dies, whereas in DD you are in the battlefield with Dragon, climb on it, hack it, stab the heart, punch it in the face if you like :). For me the gorgeous looking monsters are Hydra & Chimera. The textures on hydra are soo good.
it doesn't hold anything against monster hunter, it's not even close. I enjoyed DD for around 200 hours but there's no way I'm puting monster hunter 3u down to play this.DD=Monster Hunter Lite
@spammehardo @teknic1200 @Arrwmkr
We're talking about MONSTER FUCKIN' HUNTER, not Skyrim lolz
@Arrwmkr @teknic1200 monster hunter devs did work on this game and they have some similarities. even the drake's chomp is similar to a rathian/rathilos chomp. gathering and mining nodes were lifted from monster hunter. DD was a breath of fresh air for a MH junkie, but right now i'm playing monster hunter, just passed 150 hours, and I'm just getting into the meat of the game. i'll grab this out of the bargain bin sometime in the future but i'm about to miss out on a lot of games. I'll crack 1000 hours easily.
Could someone let me know if your characters from the original DD transfer over to DD:DA? Also do I have to buy DD:DA if I want to play the new content or is there a download for owners of the original? Thanks everyone!
@Paetanat @demoneyes4 yes your old savegame will be recognized and u should have a high level character to survive the new area
@demoneyes4 Cant answer to your first qyestion but yes,you have to buy the complete package for 40$.
this game was complete garbage. it might be one of the most boring games I have ever played.
I may have to start fresh, since I was already over level 120 by the time I finally took a break from Dragon's Dogma. The challenge of the original game largely dropped off once you hit level 40.
@Yomigaeru try this one, the new area is way better than the original one, more challenging and interesting
2 Like one of the best re releases and/or addon ever. the new area kicks ass, new loot (kind of decard caine style where u have to identify the items before using it), new secret skillz (r0xx0r 1337), cool monsters (the first golem or whatever chained, its looks so damn cool), dark souls creepy atmosphere...its uba :D
love it but u have to know im a dragons dogma fanboy :D
So wait I am still a little unsure what this is. Is it a stand alone expansion to the original game, like Shivering Isles was to Oblivion except on a larger scale which means a separate disc is required or is it the same game as before with the extras added on? So you are buying the first game + some that they didn't add the first time?
I'm not sure because I like the look of this. My excitement and wonder that stirred when I first started playing Dark Souls kicked in while watching this and Dark Souls is my favorite game of all time. Totally my kind of game. Difficult but fair.
But should I buy this one on the premise that it is the same game + some extra stuff should I want to play them or do I still need to get the original title?
@Dannystaples14 I'm a total Demon/Dark Souls nut as well... this game is right up your street...fantastic game, incredible ending.
@Dannystaples14 Only reason you might want to get a hold of the original if you see it for cheap, is that you get the eternal ferrystone and 100,000 rift stones for having an original Dragon's Dogma save file.
@theblackfrog @Eikichi-Onizuka @Dannystaples14 Except the two that were just listed... but thanks for telling people what to do with their money.
@Dannystaples14 its both full game + dark arison, thats a lvl 50+ area somwhere, u will travle by ship to the new location. u dont need the basic dragons dogma anymore
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