Review of the PC version of Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

A couple of months ago, I knew about Dragon's Dogma exactly three things. Firstly, that this is Capcom's main role-playing game, secondly, that it is not perfect at all (), and thirdly, that with the addition Dark arisen it becomes a little less imperfect (read about it). Personally, I decided to get to know the game only after its release on the PC, and that was mainly out of a desire to find out what kind of "Dogma" this is and why there is so much talk around it.

And you know what? I really liked her. And that's why.

Reason one: a touching clash of East and West

In the first half hour after the creation of the character, Dragon's Dogma causes bewilderment, and even disgust for especially impressionable ones (like me). What the hell is this anyway? If a role-playing game, where do the stupid naive dialogues with the silent hero come from? If a slasher, why does the hero have only two hits at the beginning, and instead of battles, there is a continuous running around?

But pretty soon the oddities begin to seem familiar, add up to a single picture ...

And comes awareness... Dragon's Dogma is a typical JRPG.

The views that you want to admire are rare in the game, but still come across.



But here you can jump on rooftops, and you don't have to be an assassin for that. Although, in fairness, my character is an assassin.

Hence the dialogues, during which the main character is silent, but his answers are implied somewhere between the lines, and the role-playing system, where we only choose a class and from time to time reshuffle the set of available skills, and much more.

From the classics of the genre, both completely idiotic conventions migrated (like an invisible counter of "relationships": it will easily write a merchant whom you flattered to get a discount as the love of your life), as well as the proprietary Japanese attention to detail and secrets: when in Some secluded corner, where you can only get by accident, is lying around some nondescript contraption, which, if you find it, will emerge in the game much later and turn the course of events upside down.

At the same time, Dragon's Dogma is actively trying to pretend to be a large and serious European RPG, so all the usual conveniences (like a relatively sane quest journal and maps with markers) are also in place, and there is almost no national Asian flavor (like androgynous samurai with three-meter sword-blades). And this makes the game a good touchstone for anyone who wants to know how these Japanese in general role-playing games sculpt: you can look at genre clichés, and there will be no absolutely blinding culture shock.

Reason two: exploratory spirit and the dangers of travel

Many argue that their open world Dragon's Dogma reminds Skyrim - true, by the way - but I would compare it first of all with "Gothic"... Because Granzis is not only huge and full of all sorts of things, but also damn dangerous. As in Skyrim, there is a constant desire to look in-oh-he behind that mound - but, as in Khorinis, you can easily rake behind this mound.

If you look closely, you will see a sleeping dragon. If you do not look closely, you may not notice him, continue walking further, accidentally wake him up and die very quickly.

But the desire from this not only does not weaken, but quite the opposite: Dragon's Dogma constantly awakens in the soul already thoroughly forgotten feelings. For example, when you run ten times back and forth on various matters by the turn at some fork, and on the eleventh you stop and turn - not because you need to go there, but because you have already run ten times, it would be time to find out where this road leads.

Or when you go down to the local analogue of the Moria mines, because I examined the map from all sides and made sure - yes, this is really the most quick way get over the mountains, otherwise you will have to make an hour-long detour through the hills.

Or when you run headlong from a young dragon, dodging desperately between the trees and wondering what a bad idea it was to go and see what was rustling by the lake at midnight in pitch darkness.

With an enchanted sword, the hero looks like a real Jedi, although the blade is only covered with a shining ice crust.

Walking through the woods, I saw a strange flicker. At first I thought they were ghosts, but I came closer and saw a spring with living water. I bathed, at the same time I filled the flasks - why not a road trip?

Alas, the game often evokes another familiar feeling - the feeling of a memorized road. There is fast travel here, but only between teleportation stones installed by yourself, and there are always just barely enough of them. But even if there were plenty of them, you won't put these stones every hundred meters.

As a result, trampling the same road for the twentieth time, one involuntarily recalls the extremely "exciting" and "fascinating" runs to the Circle of the Sun in the second "Gothic", and you start to appreciate Roach again.

Reason three: combat system smoothly turning into combat mountaineering

At first, it is not at all clear what is in the local combat: two strikes, six special skills, that seems to be the whole story ... But in fact, not all. Because there is a completely magical thing here called capture. As soon as you understand why you need it, the battles are transformed.

Chopping or stabbing undead is a thankless task, you can do it for ages. But zombies burn faster than matches.

The capture allows you to "break" opponents of a comparable weight category: they went behind the back, twisted, but the partner finished off with one blow. The capture allows you to simply grab smaller opponents - knocked the goblin off his feet, picked it up, threw it into the abyss.

Finally, it makes it possible to cling to huge monsters- and, naturally, climb them. Not really Shadow of the Colossus but something like that. Each monster reacts to this differently, and each one needs to look for its own approach.

Jump on a stupid cyclops leg, and he will just shake that leg for a good five minutes - in the hope that you will fall off yourself. Climb higher and climb under his helmet, and he, from a great mind, will take off this helmet so that it is more convenient to look for you. But you can't just take some ogre: having felt an uninvited heaviness on his back, the cunning beast will immediately try to slap on this back with a swing - and here you will have to jump down briskly before being crushed.

Despite the obvious desire, shooting a Cyclops in the eye is not a good idea. This, of course, is much more painful, but the creature instantly falls into a rage.

Cyclops are fairly easy to climb and not hard to hold on to. Just be careful - if you reach it with your hand, it will take it off and gobble it up.

Creative use of the grip always leads to amazing results. They knocked out one harpy with a fiery arrow, grabbed the burning carcass and already knocked out the second with it. They gouged an empty barrel, threw it into the skull of some skeleton - this is much more effective than chopping bones with a sword. Jumped on the scruff of a griffin ... Hold on and pray, there will be a deadly rodeo. And towards the end, bosses will start eating off hours (if not days) of life until you figure out how to deal with them - no worse than Dark souls .

Reason four: original multiplayer is co-op without co-op

The hero travels along Granzis in the company of three assistants, called pawns. These are not classic role-playing partners, as in BioWare games: although pawns look and behave just like people, they have no soul, no aspirations, no character, no history, but they do have knowledge and skills that they acquire on their travels with the player.



A young lady in a white raincoat dragged me on her back through a good half of the game. Every time I found her in the list of pawns available for recruitment, she was one level older than my character and knew the plot at least five tasks ahead - apparently, her master went through the game much faster than me.

The player has only one personal pawn, he creates it in the editor and develops it along with his main character. He borrows the other two from the network, from other heroes, and they are hired with all the equipment, with the skills and with the knowledge received from the original owner.

And if you get a task that the pawn has already completed with “its” player, it will tell you right off the bat: say, master, I know what to do, let's go there and talk to that and that. And when you travel to places that are not familiar to you, which the pawn has already seen in someone's game, she will happily play the role of a guide - the owner, on the left is a bandit fortress, the owner, on the right there will be a camp where you can spend the night, master, we need to catacombs, this is on that road, let me show you. Such a cooperative without a cooperative.

If there are women in the team, the ogres will spit on everyone else and chase them. This should be taken into account when planning a squad - or when playing as a girl.

To "turn off" the golem, you need to break all the magic crystals on its body. The catch is that the crystals can be, for example, on the heel or on the palms - which, of course, the golem clenches into fists.

Other pawns can also learn from you, and yours can learn from other players - if, of course, someone will hire her. Moreover, on "part-time jobs" the partner receives not only knowledge: by dismissing someone else's pawn, the player can give her a gift. Or, say, an encouraging note - just so that the owner was pleased that he brought up such a good helper.

Pawns are also an inexhaustible source of jokes in the community. Because the storehouse of their knowledge seethes and gushes constantly: Companions do not shut up for a second and at the first opportunity in one thousand three hundred first time they will remind you that wolves hunt in packs, Saurian lizards need to chop off their tails, and the hobgoblin is much stronger than an ordinary goblin.

* * *

Meet to Dragon's Dogma worth at least to know what it is. If you missed the game on consoles, play now. Who knows, suddenly you will become attached to her with all your soul?

“… If you were expecting a serious challenge from Dark Arisen, you've come to the right place. In addition, you have to die even more often than in DD - although, it would seem, much more often? Incredibly strong monsters have appeared in the bestiary, which costs nothing to sweep you with one blow.

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Last year's Dragon's Dogma was highly controversial. An overcomplicated interface, annoying bugs (sometimes arrows and magical charges flew anywhere except the target) and a poorly written plot could make you quit the game after a couple of hours. In addition, some simply did not understand what was required of them - we got used to the fact that, no matter how free the game seemed, the authors always guide us with an invisible hand, give instructions and do not let us get bored. Capcom did not bother themselves with anything like that, they just threw you into a world full of dangers, handed weapons into their hands, and then, like in the same joke, spin as you can. Goals, tasks and, in many respects, motivation had to be invented for oneself, and therefore people with not very developed imaginations were eliminated even at the entrance.

Those who found the strength to understand the intricacies of the local ecosystem, felt the second bottom of the game. Dragon's Dogma offered challenging, hardcore fights. It took hours for individual bosses, and this is not an exaggeration. It was necessary to select tactics by eye, without third-party prompts, which made the battles even more exciting.

Even God of War with Shadow of Colossus will envy the giant bosses from Dragon's Dogma.

The game gave unusual sensations from exploring locations: you yourself made up a picture of the world around you, plunging headlong into the study of nearby lands. No direct dependence on the whims of game designers. One could wander through the forest for a long time, and then suddenly hear a strange sound, go to it and stumble upon a sleeping dragon. The hero's footsteps, of course, awakened the monster, he was ferocious, and it was necessary to fight. Only now, no one taught you how to beat a dragon, as well as the fact that these powerful creatures love to sleep next to rivers. Everything was learned from personal experience.

Over time, you got used to the system of "pawns" - allies in the squad, which were controlled by a computer (which, in general, was the right decision). "Pawns" played not only a practical, but also a social role: they could be called for help by other players, and it does not matter whether you were online at that moment or not. During the "lease", virtual partners did not grow in levels, but they could return from the trip with something useful (if the temporary owner was not greedy).

We remember the original in such detail, because all of the above is equally true for Dark arisen... Capcom did not trick and reinvent the game: Bitterblack Island was added to the existing story campaign, inhabited by new types of enemies and even more terrifying bosses, which should only be meddled after reaching level fifty. The mechanics were almost not touched, only the most unpleasant flaws were fixed (for example, the teleportation stone is now infinite) and the interface was improved.

The computer partners are surprisingly smart. In battles, your comrades will cover your back more than once.

If you were expecting a serious challenge from Dark Arisen, then you've come to the right place. In addition, you have to die even more often than in DD - although, it would seem, much more often? Incredibly strong monsters have appeared in the bestiary, which costs nothing to sweep you with one blow. The highlight of the program is Death, a distant relative of Nemesis from Resident evil 3 ... It is almost impossible to predict her appearance, the bony one appears where and when she pleases. To kill Death (yeah), you will have to spend a lot of time and effort - she has enough health that is enough for a good half of Bitterblack's monsters. You have to be especially careful to calculate every step. It is unlikely that you will be able to overcome it the first time, so the "pleasure" will have to be stretched over several runs.

New content will surely delight loyal fans, for whom the game has in many ways become a role-playing alternative Dark souls... However, Capcom fans were treated like pigs. Dark Arisen comes with original game, but if you already have it, then you will not be able to purchase the add-on in a civilized manner - it is simply not sold separately. The Japanese literally make fans pay twice for the same content, all for the sake of fifteen hours of gameplay and a slightly redesigned interface. Quite a strange decision.

Released by the company Capcom in 2012 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, was an attempt to create a western-style RPG in the forge of eastern gaming. It cannot be said that everything went according to the developer's plan: with not the worst sales figures - more than two million copies sold - the project was greeted rather coolly, and, unfortunately, he could not win huge popular love. The technical component was too outdated at the time of release, and the script was stamped and unprincipled. And now, almost four years after the release of the original, it appears before the harsh trial of PC gamers.

Sometimes the picture in Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen can even be called beautiful

It is worth mentioning that the PC game has been waiting for a long time. She was able to win the love of the owners of personal computers long before the official announcement of the ported version - the forbidden console fruit seemed very sweet. V Capcom The situation was perfectly understood and, as if apologizing for such an unacceptable delay, they placed a huge responsibility on the shoulders of the PC audience: the producer of the project Minae Matsukawa shortly before the release of the port, she said that it was the feedback and feedback from the owners of the personal computers that would greatly affect the possibility of the second part being born. And the adherents of the "chosen" platform, apparently, bless Capcom to develop a sequel: a week after its release on Steam, more than two thousand users managed to evaluate it, and more than 90% of these ratings are positive.


However, such excellent reviews are due not only to the desire of gamers to see the continuation of the series - the port turned out to be surprisingly good. If you couldn't look at the PS3 / Xbox 360 without tears, then the PC version is quite possible. The picture was pulled up just great: high-resolution textures and shadows, high-quality anti-aliasing and God Ray effects - the graphics are still not "next-gen", but they no longer cause such rejection as on consoles. However, one can see proportional dynamics here: if in 2012 it looked like 3-4 years old, the same rule works in 2016. Fans of a fancy picture here obviously have nothing to look at. But the optimization is just exemplary: even on a machine that slightly does not meet the recommended requirements, it shows an honest 60 FPS at maximum graphics settings. No drops in the frame rate were noticed, as well as freezes, slowdowns and freezes - all that modern games love to sin so much.

Remember how hard it was to use your keyboard and mouse in? You shouldn't remember this: it was hardly worth trying out the traditional PC-user model of character control in computer version“”, How the feelings of hopelessness, pain, fear and own oppression, already inherent in this project, were amplified thousands of times. Glory Capcom, it doesn't even smell like that. Using the "keyboard mouse" is no less convenient here than in any other traditional platform game. Of course, at first, the controls may seem a little overloaded: to use special attacks other than the trivial strong and weak hit, you must hold down the "Ctrl" or "Alt" keys, and then press the right or left mouse buttons to which these strong ones are assigned. weak blows. During the first hours of adventures in the DD world, these special hits are easy to get confused, but then you get used to it and the layout starts to look really comfortable. Unfortunately, such warm words cannot be said about the interface: navigating through the inventory will cause mental suffering from the beginning to the very end of the adventures of the Chosen One.

Dragon's Dogma: Darkness thickened over us and the great scaled beast cast its shadow again.

You will need strength, skill and wits, not to mention the experience of killing monsters, to prepare for the final battle with the fire-breathing beast. Fortunately, you are not alone. Servants of heroes like you, known as “Pawns”, will be by your side to help you overcome even the most dangerous enemies. So get ready for a long journey through a dangerous world.

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen is like a rising phoenix in its computer incarnation. The game has been successfully ported and is ready to attract new attention. She did a pretty good job and gathered her humble fans on consoles, now she has a chance to shine again. And she does it. Our reviewer gave the game an excellent 8.5 out of 10, praising it for its fast paced combat and strategic depth.

You probably want to take your time and go through the game on your own, but as soon as you get comfortable and feel confident, we will be waiting for you with some fresh mods. We will work on finding mods that we think you will like. Whether the mod offers new challenges or makes the game better, if it's already good, you can count on finding it here eventually.

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A mod that focuses specifically on the landscapes and textures of Dragon's Dogma. If you are looking for something more visually immersive, then this mod will recreate much of the game's vast world in great style. The ground, paintbrush, and trees will look rougher, while the dirt, wood, mortar and stone of city buildings, fortresses and castles will look much more detailed.

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This is a complete ReShade suite and graphic settings built around the night at Dragon's Dogma. In general, this will make the night darker, lighting in the dark will be more atmospheric, and the tones and colors of the night will be reworked to give a much richer feeling. In fact, the night will actually look like night, but look more luxurious and not just dull and black.

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Originally created for Skyrim, this mod contains additional set options for making an already rich world Dragon dogma more beautiful. You will get shaders, depth of field, chroma, SSAO and SSIL options to play along with HUD on and off. Tailor Dragon's Dogma visuals to your tastes and preferences with numerous options tailored for the discerning dragon slayer.

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SweetFX is a mod that has been used by some in the past popular games... It is one of those mods where you can clean up appearance games without sacrificing performance if you want. You can also change the settings and make your game as beautiful as possible. There are countless tools available with SweetFX that can run the game from a minimal fix to a full update. With this mod, the choice is yours.

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Some people like to change their minds about everything. It doesn't matter what it is, food or socializing with friends, or what their character looks like in Dragon's Dogma. Luckily for them, this mod not only gives them the ability to change their character's appearance at any time, but also allows them to customize the appearance of their main pawn. Let's talk about the bonus ..

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Mouse and WADS are suitable for many games. It's not bad for Dragon's Dogma either, but for a game that originally came from consoles, some players just can't get away from using controllers. Unfortunately, if your choice fell on the DualShock 3, then Dragon's Dogma will not swap the computer keys with the DS3 buttons on the screen. This mod is your decision. It ensures that when using the DS3 controller, you see the corresponding buttons that should appear on the screen next to their actions.

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This mod is simple but clean. Some people don't like the colorful ESRB logo filling the game as it loads. With this mod, the ESRB logo will be replaced with a black screen during game loading. Then, the subsequent Capcom logo will be replaced by the Dragon's Dogma logo. Alternatively, there is a file that disables the ESRB logo, but retains the next Capcom logo if you wish.

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As the name suggests, this is a ReShade aimed at conveying the prettier colors of Dragon's Dogma. He lowers the yellows in the game to remove some softness and make the game more attractive. Plus, it removes the ugly little night stripes that make the sky look a little (or not) ugly, providing a much more realistic night sky in the game.

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In the world of free-roaming video games, nothing speeds up your journey like having to empty your inventory or replenish your stamina completely. This mod is suitable for both situations. It allows you to increase your character's weight to 10,000 in all classes, halve your stamina consumption, and / or completely remove your stamina consumption. You can use any of these settings in conjunction ..

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Always looking for something specific to add more life, color and texture to your Dragon's Dogma experience? Take a look at this mod. It is equipped with a new set of settings that aim to make the whole world much more immersive and to your liking. Lighting effects will be more dynamic, but not too intense, colors will be more saturated, and textures will be more detailed. This mod promises to be updated and improved over time, so it's worth coming back to it from time to time.

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"They are all masterpieces, you cannot be wrong." While the European fantasy Dragon's Dogma is well suited to play on English language, there are still people who want an original Japanese experience. "They are all masterpieces, you cannot be wrong." Or maybe they want to ease the pain of repeating dialogue over and over by putting it in a different language. "They are all masterpieces, you cannot be wrong." This mod returns to console version Japanese voice acting. "They are all masterpieces, you cannot be wrong."

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If you are using Dragon's Dogma at any non-standard resolution, you may be having serious UI scaling issues that make the game almost impervious to play. This is a major problem in front of a great PC port. Fortunately, modders come to the rescue again. While Aspect Ratio Fix is ​​not finished yet, it will allow you to see the game in the amazing ultra-widescreen resolution that you so desperately crave.

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While Dragon's Dogma looks pretty cool on PC with improved resolution and frame rates, you're still looking at 2012's bad textures as soon as you get closer. And who likes it? This mod is intended to completely replace dirty vanilla textures with new ones, with high resolution that look oh-oh-very beautiful. This is another piece of work in progress, but you can count on the world to keep improving slowly as more and more environmental updates come in.

That's all for now, but be sure to check it out. Dragon's Dogma is a great game that will surely win the players' interest in its new version, and with it new fashions are sure to appear. We will be adding them to this page as new and interesting creations emerge that we think you might like. Until then, keep your swords tempered, your skill honed, and your grip on your travels.

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It is currently the most popular mod on Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen, and for good reason. It contains several well-implemented color effects, ambient occlusion and other tweaks to give the game a whole new look. This is certainly not the only ENB mod worthwhile, but it is the most famous and makes general lighting a lot more modern.

Don’t Blind Me

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This is a must-have mod regardless of your stats, if only because it reduces the brightness of lanterns and some skills. They can be really hard to see in the vanilla version of the game, and this mod will certainly help with that. There is one version only for lanterns and weapon spells, and another for the glow effects of any skill. Take a look and download it, you will not be disappointed.

Jump

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This is a mod that comes in handy if you want to travel more freely and have more maneuverability. Jump increases the jump height of your characters by about 1.6 times, making the game more dynamic and faster by simply improving the ability to jump. It can be tricky to install, make sure you check the related posts on the page if you have any problems.

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The game is definitely limited to its saves, so why not use a mod that allows you to have multiple saves? DDDA Save Manager does just that and is easy to use. Make sure you read the installation instructions carefully so as not to lose any previously saved data.

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Do you want your stats to be slightly higher, more balanced, or totally exaggerated? This mod is for you! It changes the distribution of stats as you level up with a class to give you the type of build you want to play with in the game and allows you to level up experience for faster or more instant leveling up. There's a lot about this mod, and it's a great addition for any passionate Dragon's Dogma player.

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Another day, another ENB. This mod provides more fine tuning, compared to others listed here ENB. If you want the game to look the same, but be a little easier on the eyes, then this mod does a great job and looks great.

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If you need a mod for a shader and color enhancement that is not an ENB, then the default is ReShade. E3FX is another color correction / enhancement and general tint enhancement mod that also includes texture sharpening. Looks pretty cool. There is an ENB version of this mod called E3FX ENB.

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The name of the mod speaks for itself. It allows you to take screenshots without that annoying Capcom watermark. You can also save the Dragon's Dogma logo in screenshots if you want.

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Another way of expressing yourself that allows you to run without losing stamina. In the "Files" section of the mod there is alternative version which slows down stamina depletion instead of stopping it if you feel like the unlimited sprint is too strong.

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There are quite a few ENBs here, but this is my personal favorite, and possibly yours. The colors are bright and vibrant, the darks are really dark and everything looks just fine. Be sure to read all of the information and select the version that suits your specifications for optimal results.