Summary
Dragon’s Dogma 2’s director, Hideaki Itsuno, has explained why the studio has once again chosen to forego a traditional open-world fast travel system for the sequel. A dozen years after the release of the original, which became a beloved cult classic fantasy RPG, Capcom is set to finally release its long awaited sequel,Dragon’s Dogma 2, in just a couple of months.
WhileDragon’s Dogmahas garnered a sizable amount of fans since its 2012 release, there has been some debate within its fandom over the game’s lack of a typical fast travel feature. Instead of being able to travel anywhere on the map at any time, players instead must hunt down specific items called Portcrystals and Ferrystones which can be found by exploring or purchased from vendors. In order to fast travel, players must have placed down Portcrystals at desireable areas of the open world, with a limit of ten crystals being placed at once, which can then be traveled to with single-use Ferrystone consumables. Thankfully, theDark Arisenversion ofDragon’s Dogmaadded Eternal Ferrystones which enable players to travel to their placed Portcrystals without limit.
Now, exaclty two months beforeDragon’s Dogma 2is set to launch,director Hideaki Itsuno has spoken with IGNto explain why both games feature such a seemingly obtuse fast travel system. Specifically with regard to the sequel, Itsuno goes into detail about how the team wants players to travel naturally throughDragon’s Dogma 2’s open worldin order to fully experience all the game’s reactive elements, and that giving players the option to warp anywhere at will disallows them from discovering such encounters. Itsuno also expressed that traveling naturally through an open world should be fun, and that the team has put a lot of effort into making sure this will be the case withDragon’s Dogma 2.
Just give it a try. Travel is boring? That’s not true. It’s only an issue because your game is boring. All you have to do is make travel fun…We’ve put a lot of work into designing a game where you can stumble across someone and something will happen. - Hideaki Itsuno via IGN
Itsuno went on to describe another mode of transportationdebuting inDragon’s Dogma 2, called Oxcarts. These Oxcarts can only travel along set paths but are also vulnerable to being ambushed by goblins or other enemies. Itsuno detailed a dynamic scenario that could potentially unfold where the Oxcart could get destroyed by a Griffin as players are outside of it defending themselves against an ambush, leaving unfortunate players to travel on foot the rest of the way. It’s unknown if these Oxcarts will transport the player in real time or if using them involves some sort of loading or travel screen. Nevertheless, Oxcarts seem designed to forego reliable travel in favor of catering towards the element of reactivityDragon’s Dogma 2seems to be going for.
When Is Dragon’s Dogma 2 Coming Out?
Dragon’s Dogmafans don’t have much longer to wait, as the long awaited sequel is locked in for a March 22 release. It’ll be interesting to see how players new toDragon’s Dogmawill respond to the sequel’s limited fast-travel system, as unhindered fast travel has become the standard for a vast majority of modern open-world games.
Dragon’s Dogma 2
WHERE TO PLAY
Set forth on your grand adventure, Arisen!Dragon’s Dogma is a single player, narrative driven action-RPG series that challenges the players to choose their own experience – from the appearance of their Arisen, their vocation, their party, how to approach different situations and more. Now, in this long-awaited sequel, the deep, explorable fantasy world of Dragon’s Dogma 2 awaits.On your journey, you’ll be joined by Pawns, mysterious otherworldly beings, in an adventure so unique you will feel as if accompanied by other players while on your own adventure.All of these elements are elevated further through physics technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and the latest in graphics, to create a truly immersive fantasy world in Dragon’s Dogma 2.
