Whatever else you might like to say about it, Dragon's Dogma was very much its own game. An Eastern take on Western fantasy RPGs, the resulting title resembled a particularly sticky wall after an idea-throwing jamboree. Tactile battle systems, graphical problems, an unexpectedly deep storyline, terrible traversal and Pawns, the brilliant asymmetric multiplayer solution, all shoved at each other to earn the player's attention. And it worked - we still haven't played anything quite like it.
Which makes it doubly strange that the new portions in Dark Arisen - the full version of the original game is included here - amount to what appears to be an amazingly competent Dark Souls mod.
Appropriately, that threat's matched in execution. Dark Arisen's most notable for its difficulty - we were told not to attempt it unless we were Level 50, but our Level 75 Sorcerer met his match many times over. Bosses are thrown at you with abandon, appearing out of nowhere and forcing you to create new tactics on the fly. They're a newly varied bunch too, with everything from a troll with a bright pink baboon-arse weak point to Death itself, a mix of the original's incrementally-defeated Ur-Dragon and the constant threat of Pyramid Head rendered in 20ft-tall, scythe wielding form.
What we're saying is it's really bloody hard, and the almost objective-less nature of your quest on the Isle, pieced together by finding literal fragments of story during your travails, makes it an even longer experience than it might have been. Xbox Live interaction remains much as before - sidekick Pawns are sent to other players by way of Rift Stones to earn and learn. That said, with 100 new items there's more to equip them with before handing over control.
A mysterious bonus disc includes a high-res texture pack and Japanese voice track installation. It's not all gravy - the former causes a few more framerate issues than it should, and the second means you'll never hear the wonderful word "aught" again. Choose wisely.
15 comments so far...
Xu En on 22 Apr '13 said:
Some sources are saying that the standard textures in Dark Arisen have been reduced in quality (from DD) so that the whole thing fits on an xbox disc .. and that the "texture pack" is just the old textures for a HDD install..
Or are they actually better..?
Can OXBM confirm or deny this?
OXM ETboy on 22 Apr '13 said:
I'll give our reviewer a shout and ask. Or alternatively, fire up a retail copy of the game itself as and when we get one in the office.
Bezza89 on 22 Apr '13 said:
Official Xbox Bastard Matt left I'm afraid.
OXM ETboy on 22 Apr '13 said:
I shall strive and inevitably fail to do a Man's Work in his stead.
Plamsa wing on 22 Apr '13 said:
Is there aught else you can do sir?
SidTheSloth on 22 Apr '13 said:
An 8?!?! Oh jesus, now i'm not sure what to do with my £13 pre-order!? If im forking out that much i expected at least a ten - how bloody dare they...!?
I'd be interested in a texture compare too please Ed, is without the extra bit as good as the first game etc - if so they were perfectly fine, and i've got no interest in making things shinier just to cause the frame rate to go crazy as i'm about to drop-kick Death back to Doncaster*!
*I've never been to Doncaster so if you're offended, don't be, or please jog-on - i picked the location purely on the basis of it's fantastic alliteration potential, nothing more, nothing less. Think of it as bonus advertising for the place you seem to hold so dear
fracturedrich on 22 Apr '13 said:
Chievos or not?
msbhvn on 22 Apr '13 said:
Har.
Pre-ordering for £13.62 means if the DLC would have been 1600MSP, then I've paid the same. I also got £9 trade-in on the original at CEX, so in real terms I've paid the equivalent of 480MSP. Getting it for £20-25 from GAME (less the pitiful amount they'd give you for the now-worthless original) would have been asking a little too much and it's good that you've put that as a negative in the review.
The problem I'm facing now is that I'm about 40% of the way through Dark Souls, and with this being similar I'm facing a case of RPG burnout where I'd rather watch a bad Stallone movie (got 5 on Blu-ray for a tenner this week) than play the game.
Grummy on 23 Apr '13 said:
Apparently, now new achievements at all, which is disappointing. So no complete replay for me, instead it's just a single run of the expansion then it's on to ebay with it.
FishyGinger on 23 Apr '13 said:
I found out I'd get 15 quid trade in from Game when I did it so thought why not, and ordered this. Not bad says I. And I didn't know rambo 5 was out?
kronk10 on 23 Apr '13 said:
broken my disc so will be buying it again and i am really really looking forward to it and more items and content can only be a good thing. I really did enjoy playing this more than i did skyrim it just felt more alive and enjoyable and the monster animations were bloody brilliant!!!
Johnbhoy69 on 23 Apr '13 said:
Looking forward to playing this, never got round to buying it when it first came out but with added content and at a discounted price Ill definitely be picking this up.
So there is no direct co-op option?
Grummy on 23 Apr '13 said:
No, the game isn't designed for it.
Baryonyx on 23 Apr '13 said:
Wish I'd kept my old disc and save now, this sounds quite good!
fracturedrich on 8 May '13 said:
Where is the isle,i started again and completed 1st playthrough and i can not find it anywhere.