Tendo City

I've been hearing about this game for a while, but for some reason all the news sites seem to focus on is the "weird" name. I don't see what's so strange about it myself. I think the name is pretty interesting.

The game is really nice. It seems to be Capcom's attempt to make an "American style" RPG. It's got a massive sprawling overworld in the Elderscrolls style to explore, the ability to customize a unique character, and some very impressive graphics. The combat system is leagues ahead of Elderscrolls though, in that it's actually fun. Killing monsters is a lot like Monster Hunter, with well developed move sets to use and finding out how monsters behave to properly defeat them. You can also cut parts off of monsters and that's how you get ingredients for crafting and so on (far more interactive than just "looting a corpse"). You can have a large number of "followers" helping you in combat. Again, the combat is amazing. You can do things like jump up and grab onto the underside of a dragon to properly gut it, or if an ogre grabs your friend you can attack the hand to make it let go. There's plenty of questing to do, and those quests do a good job of updating in real time. Sometimes quests get dropped into your log in the middle of combat, which streamlines things a lot better.

The online mode basically consists of taking your friend's characters and putting them in your party as AI controlled followers. Rather disappointing, but it's something.

Oh, the music starts out a little soft but then goes into a rock and roll style that is classic Capcom.

This review is dead on.

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Unfortunately, yes, the lack of "quick travel" and those other issues really mar the game. Now, I see where Dragon's Dogma was going with the lack of quick travel. A map interface like that means that instead of doing something "in" the game world, you just did something entirely by interface. That's all well and good, but Japanese games have perfected the "in-game fast travel" mechanic already. It's just a small switch from "pick a place and be there" to "here's the magical storyline reason you can do this", but it really keeps you in the game, and it's quick to do.

In Majora's Mask, the owl statues all over the world do an excellent job that something like ancient Dragon Statues could do in this game. Find a statue and activate it and it becomes a "becon" you can now warp to. Dot these all over the world, add in a cool spell animation for transporting between these places, and you've got your storyline reason for quick travel.

Yeah, I do kinda wish there was some sort of vehicle you could get in the game too, and a number of other things. I'm really hoping for a sequel to solve that, and that brings me back to his point. This game SHOULD succeed. Capcom, aside from a LOT of mistakes they've made recently, not least of which is their handling of DLC, is really taking the "massive sand box RPG" to the next level here. I love it when an outsider to a genre does something like this. For a long time, I've lamented just how DULL combat in an RPG like Fallout can be (and that goes for ALL of the Fallout games, I've got the trilogy). Granted, some of them can get really tactical to make up for the lack of action, and I LOVE me some tactics so I can look over that, but that's just not happening in a lot of the recent offerings from the big houses of Bethesda and Bioware.

It's a simple matter of opinion here, but when you go fully real time in an RPG's combat system and focus on a single player, you trade off a focus on tactics. To make up for that, the action needs to start developing, and what they've done with Dragon's Dogma is exactly how I imagined my characters were taking down massive creature in games like Final Fantasy 6 all those years ago, when I still HAD an imagination to picture how my fights were going.

Get Dragon's Dogma because it's very fun if you can escape the flaws and because it's the only way we're going to see Dragon's Dogma 2.

Bethesda and Bioware? I really hope you two are taking notes. Your next huge games better have combat like this! If I play your next game and I'm still hoping awkwardly in circles while just whittling some imp down with the same boring attacks over and over, I'm going to be upset.

Dark Jaguar Wrote:This review is dead on.

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Unfortunately, yes, the lack of "quick travel" and those other issues really mar the game. Now, I see where Dragon's Dogma was going with the lack of quick travel. A map interface like that means that instead of doing something "in" the game world, you just did something entirely by interface. That's all well and good, but Japanese games have perfected the "in-game fast travel" mechanic already. It's just a small switch from "pick a place and be there" to "here's the magical storyline reason you can do this", but it really keeps you in the game, and it's quick to do.

In Majora's Mask, the owl statues all over the world do an excellent job that something like ancient Dragon Statues could do in this game. Find a statue and activate it and it becomes a "becon" you can now warp to. Dot these all over the world, add in a cool spell animation for transporting between these places, and you've got your storyline reason for quick travel.

Yeah, I do kinda wish there was some sort of vehicle you could get in the game too, and a number of other things. I'm really hoping for a sequel to solve that, and that brings me back to his point. This game SHOULD succeed. Capcom, aside from a LOT of mistakes they've made recently, not least of which is their handling of DLC, is really taking the "massive sand box RPG" to the next level here. I love it when an outsider to a genre does something like this. For a long time, I've lamented just how DULL combat in an RPG like Fallout can be (and that goes for ALL of the Fallout games, I've got the trilogy). Granted, some of them can get really tactical to make up for the lack of action, and I LOVE me some tactics so I can look over that, but that's just not happening in a lot of the recent offerings from the big houses of Bethesda and Bioware.

It's a simple matter of opinion here, but when you go fully real time in an RPG's combat system and focus on a single player, you trade off a focus on tactics. To make up for that, the action needs to start developing, and what they've done with Dragon's Dogma is exactly how I imagined my characters were taking down massive creature in games like Final Fantasy 6 all those years ago, when I still HAD an imagination to picture how my fights were going.

Get Dragon's Dogma because it's very fun if you can escape the flaws and because it's the only way we're going to see Dragon's Dogma 2.

Bethesda and Bioware? I really hope you two are taking notes. Your next huge games better have combat like this! If I play your next game and I'm still hoping awkwardly in circles while just whittling some imp down with the same boring attacks over and over, I'm going to be upset.

LOL.. A freken Chariot!

I'll wait and see if a PC version gets announced.

Also, that reviews was HURTFUL. Don't ever post video reviews from that guy ever again, please.

Capcom is really more of a console company. Besides, this game won't be supporting custom content anyway. That's something you might consider a big strike against it. I know I modded the heck out of my Elderscrolls games, so it's something to consider.

On an unrelated note, Steam's "Workshop" is one of the best ideas ever, yet so simple. Basically, it's a store front for custom made fan content. I say "store" but all of it is free unless the game's maker buys the rights and makes it official. There's all sorts of stuff in there. There are a few rules mind you since they're hosting it, but the best part is that it all gets vetted by other players. If ever there was any sort of point to "voting" on stuff (which too many sites use just to use it it seems), it was this. It's similar to voting on quality for apps, but more importantly, the high ranked stuff shows up at the top of the list by default.

If Microsoft would implement something like this into XBox Live,and if companies like Bethesda and Capcom supported it in their XBox versions, the custom content problem would basically be solved (with the obvious outliers going against the host's terms of use). Steam uses a simple check for custom content before turning on achievement tracking, and MS could do the same to prevent "cheating", but really if achievements are holding back something like a custom content store front, then that basically means achievement tracking needs to go, not custom content.

Sorry you didn't like that internet reviewer guy. I dunno... some people like him.

Great Rumbler Wrote:I'll wait and see if a PC version gets announced.

Also, that reviews was HURTFUL. Don't ever post video reviews from that guy ever again, please.

I liked his review but my spidy sense says deep down his a a-hole..

Dark Jaguar Wrote:Capcom is really more of a console company.

Look at a list of recent Capcom games:

Dark Void - Consoles and PC
Dead Rising 2 - Consoles and PC
Lost Planet 2 - Consoles and PC
Resident Evil 5 - Consoles and PC
Street Fighter 4 - Consoles and PC
DmC - Consoles and PC

It would be surprising if Dragon's Dogma DIDN'T get a PC release.

Huh, hadn't realized they'd released ANY of those on PC. I just always thought "Oh Capcom's a console company". Did Megaman 9 and 10 get ported to PC too? Heck for that matter did I miss some Final Fantasy XIII port to PC?

Anyway, for games like those they just feel more... "actual" actiony so I tend to prefer the console versions. Plus, well, I just don't trust Japanese companies to know what they are doing when coding for the PC. I imagine it'll work with exactly one operating system with exactly one service pack and never again times infinity, like those ports of Megaman X games back in the 90's.

Anyway, I see why you'd want that, but I really doubt Capcom's going to have any support at all for custom content, which is about the only reason to bother with a PC port.

I agree, I might be interested in this game if it gets a PC version. It does look like it might be good, and has gotten good impressions.

Dark Jaguar Wrote:Huh, hadn't realized they'd released ANY of those on PC. I just always thought "Oh Capcom's a console company". Did Megaman 9 and 10 get ported to PC too? Heck for that matter did I miss some Final Fantasy XIII port to PC?

Nope for all three of those.

Quote:Anyway, for games like those they just feel more... "actual" actiony so I tend to prefer the console versions.

You can get gamepads for the PC, you know. Heck, 360 controllers can work on the PC too.

Quote:Plus, well, I just don't trust Japanese companies to know what they are doing when coding for the PC. I imagine it'll work with exactly one operating system with exactly one service pack and never again times infinity, like those ports of Megaman X games back in the 90's.

Anyway, I see why you'd want that, but I really doubt Capcom's going to have any support at all for custom content, which is about the only reason to bother with a PC port.

Megaman X1 was a DOS game, so no problem there (and yes, I have it). X2 didn't have a PC port, but X3 through X8 all do. I have X4 and X5 for the PC; last I checked, both work on my 32-bit Vista system. Well, X5 does. I don't think I've checked X4.

It is funny how the main X games are mostly on the PC, while the main Mega Man games are not (indeed, none of the non-X Mega Man console games have a PC release, even though seven of the X games do), but that's how it is. Mega Man X5 did have some issues, but they released a patch shortly after its release that fixed them. (Oh, while the earlier ones did, I don't think X6, X7 and X8 got physical releases on the PC in the West, but I'm pretty sure that X7 and X8, at least, are are available online. All three were released on the PC in some markets, but I don't know if X6 ever was in English... I think X7 and 8 are though.)
Of course there are "Mega Man" and "Mega Man 3" releases for DOS, but those are entirely original, and fairly mediocre, titles. Most people hate them, but I've mentioned MM3 for the PC before, repeatedly I'm sure; that's a game I got back in the early '90s. It's far from great, but it's kind of fun, once you accept that it's a mediocre PC-style platformer and really isn't much at all like Mega Man.

Anyway, it's Sega that released some pretty iffy PC ports in the '90s. Sega released a lot of Saturn games on the PC, and some Genesis/Sega CD games too, and a lot of those ports don't work at all on a modern computer. Capcom was better, though. Capcom had some poor ones in the early '90s on DOS, when they outsourced stuff like SFII to mediocre developers, but by the mid '90s their PC ports were solid. Capcom's released stuff on the PC since the early '90s, too.

Oh, other Capcom series with some PC releases include Resident Evil - 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 all have PC releases, but not Code Veronica or the spinoffs; Devil May Cry (several of them do, I believe); Dino Crisis (1 and 2, perhaps? I forget); and more. Certainly they have plenty of console exclusives, but Capcom's been a bit better than many of the other Japanese developers at releasing PC ports of its games. For instance, there are PC versions of Street Fighter, SFII, Super SFII, Super SFII Turbo, SF Alpha 1, SF Alpha 2, SF IV, and Super SF IV Arcade Edition. Yeah, they skipped SFII Turbo, SF3 (all three of them), Alpha 3, and base Super SFIV), but apart from that the PC has most of them. Darkstalkers, however, has no PC releases. Nor do the Marvel Vs. Series games.

For Capcom PC games, I have Megaman X, X4, and X5, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo (in one of its best versions), and Resident Evil 2 and 3.

I don't care that much about custom content, I do care about anisotrophic filtering and anti-aliasing, though.

Pretty sure the 360 does antialiasing

Not very much.

It isn't smooth until it does 30 passes!

Yeah, I get what you mean. I'm playing the 360 version because my friends are playing that version. It comes down to that in the end. I mean I kinda got screwed out of multiplayer with Left 4 Dead when I found out all my friends got the 360 version of that and I had the PC version, so I kinda gotta go where my friends are.

Granted, multiplayer is a weird beast in this game, but I'm not missing out on a massive party. And sure, maybe a PC port would use Windows Live instead of Steam, but well, almost no company bothers with that. I'm willing to sacrifice a few layers of smoothing for convenience at times. I also got the PS3 version of Arkham City because I just didn't think the physics processing effects were worth fidgeting with the PC version of that game. Let's face it. Playing PC games these days is a frickin' chore. At least when I buy a console game I OWN the game and not just a "license" to play the game (never had to agree to anything when I popped them in the system). Well, excepting DLC, which is basically screwing everyone over and Capcom's the worst about it these days. Getting Mass Effect 1 to work right on Windows 7 took me weeks of research and trial and error, and most of it was dealing with a very persistent disk check.

Anyway, I loves me the PC versions of all sorts of games like Fallouts and Elderscrollses, but I made a pass on waiting out any future PC versions of this one because it just didn't seem worth it.

On another note, it seems like this game depends on an "always on" internet connection. Ugh... Gee, it was sure nice to NOT be playing a SINGLE PLAYER game I OWN because some people were working on the neighborhood's cable lines today.

I'm with Penny Arcade. I'm not accepting "there are worse problems in the world" as an excuse for THIS problem. Turns out rage is not a limited supply, we can apply it liberally as much as we want.

I got Dragon's Dogma today because there's probably never going to be a PC version ever thanks to it bombing because stupid Americans would rather play Call of Poopy or whatever. Anyway, DD is ace dynamite. Also, it plays offline just fine, you just miss out on some of the pawn trading stuff.

Yeah I never responded on that. It does play just fine now. Seems it wasn't something intended to lock people out so much as an early error they fixed in a patch.