This on anyone else's radar? It's been on mine for a while and just looks better and better. It's by the guys behind Devil May Cry, which I've never really been a fan of, but the reasons I never got on with it don't seem to apply to this.
I was hoping it would have co-op, but it doesn't look like it will. More like some kind of trained AI sharing system... Details are sketchy.
Dragon's Dogma remains a bit of an enigma. We know it's a new "realistic fighting fantasy" game in which you face off against typically Capcom-huge monsters with swords, bows and whatever else comes to gauntlet-clad hand. We know it's open-world, and that it's got some hot talent working on it. You can climb up enemies, which is always cool. But we still haven't seen that much of it in action, and there are still several mysteries surrounding its structure and plot.
One of those mysteries is the party system. You fight in a party of four in Dragon's Dogma – your own custom-created character, and three "pawns". You can command and customise these comrades, but exactly why and how has not been made exactly clear. At Gamescom, Capcom explained how this system works: it turns out that you'll be playing alongside other players' custom companions as well as your own.
You, as the Chosen One, have the ability to summon the Pawns from an alternate universe called the Rift. They look human, and they fight like humans, but it turns out that they are actually otherwordly beings that never age and never die. You get one "main pawn", who is yours to customise – so if you're a mage, you might create yourself a tank pawn in three-inch-thick armour to draw enemies away whilst you fight. There are six character classes in all.
The other two pawns in your party – and this is where it gets interesting – can be selected from a vast array of beings. Once you step into the Rift, you meet potentially hundreds of pawns – some of which will be other players' companions, whom they have created and then uploaded to the server. It's almost a bit Demon's Souls-y – you can send your Pawn out to help others, and when they come back, they'll bring experience, money and knowledge of the open world with then. (This is where it gets a bit mysterious again – exactly how will your Pawn's knowledge help you? Will they suggest places on the map to visit, or suggest battle strategies for particular monsters?)
This, it seems, is the mysterious multiplayer functionality that Dragon's Dogma's developer has been hinting at since it was announced. There will be strictly no co-op, though, as it's designed as a deep single-player game in which your choices and your relationship with your Pawn really matter, presumably affecting more than just how fights turn out.
We're guessing that Dragon's Dogma will be out in force for Tokyo Game Show, where Capcom traditionally makes a big effort to impress. Hopefully we'll be able to get hands-on with an updated version of the game next month – at E3, it was still looking rather ropey graphically, and there were control issues that needed sorting out. We've learned one thing, though: it might not be branded as an RPG, but this fighting fantasy game is deeper than it looks.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPuOcOFIJJ4[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NugnvGiG3sE[/youtube]
