Dragon’s Dogma 2 has just been released by Capcom, serving as the long-awaited follow-up that fans have spent more than a decade waiting for. It hasn’t landed well, though. As the game hit storefronts the world over, players uncovered a sizeable suite of microtransactions that weren’t disclosed ahead of the game’s launch. As a result, irritated and disappointed gamers have started review-bombing Dragon’s Dogma 2 on Steam, with 62% of the 4,700 reviews (at publishing) being negative.
Sheer Controversy
It’s hard to say has players more pissed off – the fact that Capcom didn’t disclose these microtransactions or the fact that they exist in the first place. In a deceptive move, almost two dozen Dragon’s Dogma 2 microtransactions have been uncovered on digital storefronts such as Steam. They cover everything from character edits to fast travelling, and from revives to ‘Rift Crystals’ – an in-game currency.
It was claimed by reviewers that this information was detailed in the review guide that Capcom provided, but that was about it – it wasn’t previously known before the game was released that these microtransactions existed.
What’s worse is that some of these microtransactions are taking on ‘pay-to-win’ mechanics, offering certain advantages that you either can’t get naturally in the game or that you can’t get without grinding. One Steam user said:
Look how they massacred my boy turned him into a cash grab and murdered his soul should have let him rest but instead you dug him up and waved his corpse around with makeup on like the rats you are.
undeadfish66
Elsewhere, PC users have been complaining about optimisation issues and the presence of Denuvo. Claims are floating around that Capcom has delivered ‘anti-consumer practices’ by failing to disclose the microtransactions ahead of time.
Have you started playing Dragon’s Dogma 2 yet?
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Well, I haven’t actually done a proper playthrough of the first Dragon’s Dogma, and my backlog is fairly bloated at this point, so I don’t think I’m in any rush to buy 2 yet. If they come to their senses over at Capcom, perhaps I’ll reorganise my priorities accordingly, but that’s up to them.
Live-service is the future also they did this in SF6 so it seems like it was successful there.
Release day performance issues seem to have become standard in the gaming industry. Once again I have no regrets about not having pre-ordered this one. Gamers need to stop giving money for products that aren’t finished yet, it only encourages this nonsense.
But for me the real dealbreaker is the combination of being limited to a single save slot (in fact not being able to make a new game AT ALL), combined with the existence of a plague that can infect your pawns without you noticing and then wipe out an entire freakin town.
People are going around saying this is the developer’s “vision” to make decisions and mistakes more meaningful, but if that’s the vision then I say the vision is pretentious bullsh*t. What’s wrong with making a few different characters to quickly try a few different ideas? Why force everyone to adhere to an ironman playstyle? I’m gaming to relax, I don’t want to come home after a long day and load up a ghost town so I can experience the consequences of my errors.
The addition of Denuvo malware and microtransactions are just the icing on this sh*t cake.
When you consider the lack of new game functionality alongside the pay-to-redesign-your-character option, one must really start questioning the motives behind some of the elements of this “vision”.
Instead of this Capcom needs to go bring back games like Under The Skin make it an online party game and Gotcha Force which would be huge with everyone online. Power Stone could do well with a remake or new game.
Instead of this they should just make a Capcom world game like a multiverse MMO game with all the different Capcom worlds to explore and gain move sets from. Make it free and add micro transactions through that also make it available on Nintendo.