Anyone who knows me knows that role-playing games just weren't my thing for a long time. I even gave Baldur's Gate 3 a wide berth and I also had to abandon Horizon: Forbidden West, which isn't even a pure RPG, at a certain point. Add to that an Asian-flavored setting and you can hunt me down because of the exaggerated characters and audio design. But still, at some point last year, curiosity struck me. What is the fascination with this genre and why do so many people enjoy it?
That's why I decided to give the role-playing games of this world another chance. And which one is the best one to start with? That’s right, Disco Elysium! Then it was Pentiment's turn and I had a lot of fun with both of them – so off to new shores. Now Dragon's Dogma 2 (buy now €58.49) comes into play. From the first trailer, Capcom's action RPG looked extremely interesting. After all, fighting dragons reminds me of dinosaurs, and dinosaurs aren't common enough in the gaming world anyway. Long story short: I'm excited about Dragon's Dogma 2 from the first second, but there's one thing that really annoys me. Why can't my character speak?
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Dragon's Dogma 2: Your vote counts!
An action fireworks display
Before I get to the bottom of the question in more detail, I would like to make it clear that, despite the following criticism, I can absolutely recommend Dragon's Dogma 2 to every role-playing game fan. In my 20 hours of play so far, there has been no frustration at all, even though my skill keeps reaching its limits at times.
What particularly fascinates me is the lively game world, stylish areas and brutal fights. As a magician, I probably chose the hardest starting class, but with a little practice the attacks from a safe distance work quite well.
The training effort is rewarded with fabulous elemental fireworks. When I attack an ogre or a griffin with my minions, the effects of the attacks look absolutely massive.
Lightning flashes across the screen and my blazing flame spells do a lot of damage to the opponents. It's an extremely satisfying feeling once I've defeated the huge beasts and all the hordes of enemies with my NPC buddies. Despite my small successes, I still don't dare attempt a Soulslike, but I now understand a little more the feelings of happiness that such a slain monster triggers.
Source: PC Games When I watch my colleagues playing, I also notice that the other classes also have their advantages. For example, climbing on a big guy and wrestling him to the ground in close combat also looks great.
The big catch
Now it's time to get back to my actual point. The fact that my character doesn't speak bothers me not only in Dragon's Dogma 2, but also in a number of other RPGs and video games in general.
I love story-based adventures like Red Dead Redemption, Uncharted and also certain parts of the Assassin's Creed series. Following the development of my character is what separates very good games from good ones for me.
Source: PC Games This also includes my character talking in dialogues, revealing his thoughts and, above all, answering questions. This is the only way I can empathize with my hero and judge decisions as good, bad or neutral.
When chats happen like in Dragon's Dogma 2, I miss that certain something. As soon as an NPC talks to me, I can only answer in text form – sometimes not at all – and the person I'm talking to responds to my answer, which I didn't really give, then it comes across as very strange. Yes, it even takes me out of immersion every now and then.
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