Dragon’s Dogma 2 is an upcoming title that is a sequel to the first title released in 2012, both developed and published by Capcom. The title will be built on the RE Engine for the studio’s famous Resident Evil games.
Since Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a sequel, fans may expect it to continue the story of the last one, but that doesn’t seem to be the case with the title, as revealed recently. The director of the original title, Hideaki Itsuno, returned to the helm with the title and talked about how it will be accessible to players even if they haven’t played the first one. The reason why might not come as a surprise to gamers familiar with daily soaps and dramas as it is a tool used a lot of times when one needs a soft reboot.
Oblivion spreads as Dragon’s Dogma 2 Director Hideaki Itsuno reveals an essential detail about the second title
As reported by GamesRadar, the director stated that newcomers to the series won’t be missing a thing about it if they have yet to play the first title. That is because the protagonist, who is the same as the last title, will suffer from an acute case of Amnesia and, as a result, will not have the slightest clue about the events of the previous title.
The revelation was made when Itsuno spoke to GamesRadar and highlighted that if one is up to speed with what happened in the previous title, it is a plus but is far from a requirement. Many elements in the last title will not reach the second one.
This includes the setting and the companions accompanying the story’s protagonist on their journey. The director made the statement and said that:
The game starts off with a main character who has lost their memory…characters around you [have to] explain things [to you in order] to get you up to speed. So even if this is your first time playing Dragon’s Dogma, you can safely dive in…
This is very different compared to the usual route developers take to make players aware and get them up to speed with the happenings of the previous title in a sequel. Usually, there is a synopsis or a story recap highlighting significant events of the previous title, and that serves as enough context for one to begin their journey, having known about everything required not to be oblivious.
But the approach usually skips on some information that may be deemed unimportant by the game’s makers but considered canon by the community. As a result, it might cover the fluff of the matter, but it skips over some of the details. That is because a recap, by definition, cannot be as long as the previous game’s length. It is possible that the developers and the team responsible for the conceptualization and writing went for this approach to have a more in-depth way of providing context to the player without having an overly long passive replay.
This strategy doesn’t make much sense because a direct sequel could have been possible without the additional backdrop of memory loss and amnesia. After all, Dragon’s Dogma 2’s predecessor wasn’t a commercial failure. The title and its Dark Arisen addon offered a release on newer platforms and increased the player base, selling more than 6 million units.
That means many players will have already played the first title and probably be annoyed at the whole Amnesia trope. Regardless, the whole strategy does offer players who have no clue about the game lore to go in and buy the sequel without a second thought if they are convinced that it offers value, which shouldn’t be very difficult if the marketing and the product itself are good enough.
It decreases and virtually eliminates the chances that newcomers to the series will pop up on the game’s subreddit asking if they need to play the first title before jumping in the second one. Dragon’s Dogma 2 releases on 22 March 2024 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and Microsoft Windows.
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