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Game-Time report / “Dragon’s Dogma 2” has been on sale for half a month. This new Capcom game has gone through many hardships in half a month – optimization disasters in the early stages of release, the criticized in-app purchase system, and excessive The “hardcore” game mechanics and other aspects have once been criticized by many players.
Fortunately, specialized gameplay and Capcom’s timely remedial measures finally saved it. Within ten days of the release of “Dragon’s Dogma 2”, the game’s global sales have exceeded 2.5 million units. As of press time, “Dragon’s Dogma 2” has received more than 54,000 comments on Steam, and the praise rate has risen to about 59%. .
Recently, foreign media discovered that this 3A game with a severely divided reputation has a surprising feature, that is, it has surprisingly few developers. According to data published on MobyGames, a total of only 392 employees were involved in the development of the game.
AAA games are generally known for their giant size, and their developers generally have around 2,000 people. For example, Capcom’s own “Resident Evil 4” has a total of 1,504 employees, and “Street Fighter 6” has 1,828 employees. “Dragon’s Dogma 2” director Hideaki Itsuno’s own work “Devil May Cry 5” also has 1,222 employees, and even the cast and crew of the first “Dragon’s Dogma” has 616 people – more than its sequel Much more.
As for AAA games from other manufacturers, “Hogwarts Legacy” has 3,429 employees, “Elden’s Ring” has 1,668 employees, and last year’s hit “Baldur’s Gate 3” has 2,944 employees staff.
Although the number of developers has shrunk, “Dragon’s Dogma 2” is not small in size. Its map size is four times that of the previous game, and the various explorable and interactive game contents are the most dense among AAA games. of first gear. So how did Capcom manage to build a huge world with such a small number of people?
According to Itsuno Hideaki, “Dragon’s Dogma 2” was developed based on the concept of “fantasy world simulator”, which aims to realize some ideas that previous games were unable to achieve due to technical difficulties. This creates a strict inheritance relationship between the two parts of Dragon’s Dogma. Some elements in the previous game, such as creatures and professions, will be reproduced intact in “Dragon’s Dogma 2”, which greatly eases the developer’s workload. workload.
In addition, a major feature of “Dragon’s Dogma 2” is that various random events will be refreshed in the wild. Through different permutations and combinations, limited events will give players an infinite gaming experience. This is also the reason why the game requires fewer employees. one.
Based on the performance in the past half month, “Dragon’s Dogma 2” is like a lonely performance artist. It is difficult to please everyone, but it shows its distinctive self-characteristics. In an interview in early March, “Dragon’s Dogma 2” producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi and director Hideaki Itsuno gave a detailed explanation of the development process and core features of the game. Many of the contents also addressed some points complained by players. response. In order to better understand the “alien loner” in this AAA game, Gamelook compiled its full text. The following is the compiled content.
──How did you decide to make “Dragon’s Dogma 2”?
Hirabayashi:Ten years ago, we developed “Dragon’s Dogma” and “Dragon’s Dogma: Darkness Rising”. In the following ten years, we have been making games exclusive to the Japanese market, such as “Dragon Quest Online” and the mobile version of “Dragon Quest Online”. “Evil Dragon”. But for the past ten years, we have actually been wanting to make a sequel to the stand-alone game “Dragon’s Dogma”.
Capcom is well aware of the importance of Hideaki Itsuno to the “Dragon’s Dogma” IP. If it wants to make a sequel, Hideaki Itsuno and a large-scale development team are indispensable. To this end, we started a long period of deliberation and preparation. After Hideaki Itsuno completed the development of “Devil May Cry 5”, the development of “Dragon’s Dogma 2” was officially put on the agenda.
──(To Izu) Do you also have the idea of making “Dragon’s Dogma 2” yourself?
Izu:In fact, “Dragon’s Dogma 2” and “Devil May Cry 5” were put on the agenda at the same time, but I chose to work on “Devil May Cry 5” first. So for a long time I was thinking about Dragon’s Dogma 2 and how to make it.
After a long period of thinking, I decided to return to my original intention and use the basic concepts of the original game to create “Dragon’s Dogma 2”, which is to make up for the regrets of the previous game. I plan to pick up some ideas in the previous game that had to be axed due to time, manpower, technology, and hardware constraints, and collect feedback from players so that they can be implemented in “Dragon’s Dogma 2.” For example, many users have reported that “having only one country in Dragon’s Dogma is boring”, so we will create two countries in Dragon’s Dogma 2 to solve this problem.
──What other similar “regrets from the previous work” are there?
First of all, it failed to build a seamless open world because there were too many technical flaws at the time. For example, when entering a densely populated area such as a castle or dungeon, a brief loading time must elapse before switching from distant view data to detailed data within, hindering a seamless gameplay experience. However, in Dragon’s Dogma 2, all dungeons, towns, and house interiors will be seamlessly connected, giving players a greater sense of immersion.
The other is the number of NPCs on the same screen. The number of NPCs that “Dragon’s Dogma 2” can support on the same screen will be far greater than that of the previous game. For example, in some battles, “Dragon’s Dogma” can only allow two large BOSSs to appear, and it is impossible to add more miscellaneous soldiers. But in the sequel, there will even be three large BOSSs appearing at the same time, so players can encounter the next BOSS while escaping from the previous BOSS. Escape carries risks, which adds a touch of realism to the chase.
In “Dragon’s Dogma 2”, we created the two nations of Vermund and Battle and the “Dragon Plague”, a contagious disease that infects followers. These are also ideas that we couldn’t realize in the previous game.
The AI behavior of “Dragon’s Dogma” was a simplified version because the PS3 at the time had limited functions, while the AI behavior of “Dragon’s Dogma 2” was simulated more realistically.
Another major feature of “Dragon’s Dogma 2” is the introduction of a new race-the Beastmen. This was something we had in mind when we made the previous game, but it didn’t work out because it was difficult for us to add characters that were covered in a lot of fur. The sequel will feature the Battle Orcs and their nation, Battle, with players able to choose the Battle Orcs as their character’s race.
──Will the race chosen for the Awakened affect the progression of the story?
Izu:
The main line of the story will not be affected, but the attitudes towards Beastren in different countries vary greatly, so we will strengthen this sense of difference. In addition, the race of the awakened person will also affect his actions and choices in the game.
──In “Dragon’s Dogma”, each profession can use multiple weapons, but in the sequel, it seems that each profession can only use one weapon, and the professions have become more specialized. What’s the thinking behind these adjustments?
Izu:
In action games, the more versatile a class is, the less powerful it becomes. After all, if a class is good at everything, it becomes the only option, compromising the balance of the entire game. Therefore, in order to make each ability unique, we have reduced the types of professional weapons and strengthened them specifically. This makes each career more interesting and engaging. To achieve this, we separated classes into melee, ranged, and support types and made them as powerful as possible within their respective functions so that they could provide different types of gameplay experiences.
The new Dragonchosen class will be able to use all weapons, but it will also be weaker. We’ve balanced the class to make it difficult to use it to its full capacity without multiclassing.
──The combat style of the new “Illusionist” class reminds me of support characters in online games, but have you considered adding online gameplay to “Dragon’s Dogma 2”?
Izu:
We haven’t considered any form of online play for Dragon’s Dogma 2 yet. I think both multiplayer and single player have their advantages. But one of the core concepts of “Dragon’s Dogma” is to reflect the excitement that single-player games do not have, while also avoiding the “trouble” caused by multi-player games, and we do not intend to deviate from this concept.
──In “Dragon’s Dogma”, you can develop “affinity” with NPCs, but will there be such a thing in the sequel?
Izu:
There’s going to be a lot of it, and it’s going to be more obvious, and that’s what we make open worlds in games for. There are many events that occur/don’t occur depending on affinity. The relationship between NPCs is also very important. For example, if you increase your affinity with your child’s parents, your affinity with the child will also increase. On the other hand, there will also be disputes between NPCs. We’ve “boosted” a lot of affinity features and added a lot of fun content. (laugh)
──Will NPCs die during town raids?
Izu:
The most basic concept of “Dragon’s Dogma” is to “create a fantasy world simulator”, so the death of NPCs is a normal phenomenon. If there are NPCs in a town that you take care of, you need to protect them in battle, or run away with them in your arms.
Hirabayashi:
However, there are awakening stones (resurrection items), so even if the NPC dies, it is not irreversible. We believe that in a real world, no one is immortal. In a world without death, people would show considerable indifference and irresponsibility to their actions. The concept of death will profoundly affect our behavior. Only when the threat of death is real will we act cautiously and conscientiously.
Death creates a sense of crisis in us. There are many designs in “Dragon’s Dogma 2” that take advantage of the players’ sense of crisis. For example, you come across a cliff – you can jump off and take a shortcut, but you can’t be sure if you will die. You can choose to take the risk or avoid it. This way, the height of the cliff becomes meaningful to the player.
Izu:
Our development team unanimously believes that the feeling of adventure is equivalent to the feeling of threat of death, and death is an irreversible event, so we have strengthened the punishment after death in the game combat. This is because the idea of ”resurrection after death” takes away from the excitement of adventure. The possibility of death scares you and makes you careful. The struggle to survive makes for a purely thrilling gaming experience.
──Compared to the previous game, how much has the map in “Dragon’s Dogma 2” been expanded? How many more towns can we expect?
Izu:
We’ve always said that the map in Dragon’s Dogma 2 is four times the size of its predecessor, but we haven’t measured it exactly and the development team believes it’s much larger. The number of towns also increased dramatically. There are currently two large countries in the game, with various settlements within them. However, we emphasize less on the size of the map than on its density. We have made several adjustments to the map to ensure that players do not spend too much time in the wild.
Hirabayashi:
We consider Dragon’s Dogma 2 to be an “experience-driven” game rather than a story-driven game. Therefore, we do not pursue a large and empty world, but pay more attention to what kind of stories you will encounter when traveling through the world and whether you can get a pleasant gaming experience. We are very confident in the open world we have built. This confidence does not come from its size, but from its rich play density.
──How do you increase the density of the big world?
Izu:
This is another core concept of Dragon’s Dogma that we decided to continue with the sequel.
In Dragon’s Dogma 2, we’re introducing a lot of new understanding and content. For example, players often ride horses in the open world just to rush, rather than experience the fun of riding. In other words, the reason why players want horses is not because they simply like riding horses, but because they will feel bored on the road without riding horses. So our goal is to make this road less boring and allow players to feel that they can have a good driving experience without horses. To this end, we’ve added a lot of “fun” to the map so players will find that traveling can be fun. Our development policy is to make riding a horse a shame (laughs).
Hirabayashi:
However, different players play in different ways, and we want all players to have a valuable and fun experience in the game, so we won’t force anything on them. Therefore, under the premise of ensuring balance, we designed a fast travel system using ferry stones.
Izu:
But they are expensive and not something to be squandered. Only when you make more money later can you use them freely.
──What made you decide to stick with the “restricted fast travel system” rather than the unrestricted fast travel system?
Hirabayashi:
I think in games that use fast travel without restrictions, the focus is on where you’re traveling. But in Dragon’s Dogma 2, the focus is also on the experience of travel itself. For example, nighttime is very dangerous due to limited visibility, and the fear of the night gives meaning to the journey itself. If you’re planning an overnight trip to a remote destination, you’ll want to make sure your lantern is fully fueled before leaving your base. You’ll also need to consider whether you should bring camping gear with you and make the necessary preparations. The goal is to create a rhythm that alternates between tension and relaxation.
Izu:
Daring to hike can lead to new experiences or discover trail shortcuts you hadn’t noticed before. Another way to travel is by bullock cart, but there is a risk of being attacked. For example, in the middle of the night, your bullock cart is destroyed by the enemy, your followers are killed, and you are left alone to escape the undead. Then, you happen to see the smoke and faint lantern light of the camp in the distance – and you feel the fear and tension dissipate, and a real sense of relief washes over you. I think this experience is part of the fun of the game, just the act of traveling creates drama.
You can feel a sense of adventure, and I think each player will experience something different even on the same path. I think these are experiences that people want to share with others, which is perfect in this age of social media. I welcome people sharing their adventures on social media (laughs).
Hirabayashi:
Followers can also be loaned and borrowed through the server, so you can even watch live streamers travel with their own followers.
Izu:
It would be fun to see my followers being used by a famous streamer. The follower system itself has been around for a while, but I think it could be given a new look now.
─My impression is that this game requires quite a bit of trial and error and thoughtful strategy. What is your policy on game balance?
Izu:
In principle, we believe that players who can think independently and act as they please will have a better gaming experience in Dragon’s Dogma 2, while players who simply follow the game’s instructions will not.
Therefore, we have set a slightly higher threshold for players, but this does not mean that we simply increase the difficulty. We pay great attention to balance and have prepared a variety of growth plans for players. Players can improve their level by learning more information. Or hone skills to deal with difficulties,
This game may not be to everyone’s taste, but for hardcore players who can immerse themselves, “Dragon’s Dogma 2” will give them a 120% gaming experience.
──What is something that can only be expressed and experienced in “Dragon’s Dogma”?
Hirabayashi:
It’s the feeling of adventure. When I was a kid I would go up to the mountains and play pretend games and it felt like a real adventure. Now, as an adult, the feeling I get playing this game with a controller is very close to what I felt back then. In “Dragon’s Dogma 2”, I can feel a stronger sense of adventure than the previous game, and it really impressed me.
Izu:
Putting it into words simplifies things a bit, but to me it’s a “pseudo-experience”. I wanted to create a game where players’ dreams come true. To achieve this, I was picky about many details, such as the camera’s perspective – it was set up to mimic the perspective of the human eye. Of course, using a wider angle gives players a better view, but I think the angles we set up in Dragon’s Dogma 2 are more immersive and realistic.
Additionally, games allow you to experience fear in ways that are not possible in the real world. The thrilling experience of being attacked by monsters at night and running away in rags is another selling point of Dragon’s Dogma 2. While such events may be common in fantasy worlds, the game’s emphasis on Second Life-like fun brings the ultimate sense of realism to players. So I highly recommend those role-playing enthusiasts to experience “Dragon’s Dogma 2”.
