Preview: Hands-On With Dragon’s Dogma
The demo for Dragon’s Dogma was made available today, and I must say my anticipation for the title has only gone up since playing it. The demo lets you create your own character, along with a support character who will help you out in battle. Also, the demo gives you two quests to complete, neither of which are very long, but both of which are fun.
The character customization is fairly extensive, letting you tweak everything from the amount of scars on your body to how masculine or feminine your stance is. You can also pick between a handful of preset voices to go along with your character. There are many different options as far as lips and eyes go (many of which look hilariously absurd). If you decide to go ahead and create a character in the demo, you can not only use them in the demo’s Countryside quest, but you can also upload him/her into the full game when it releases.
The first of the two quests, the Prologue Quest, serves as an introduction to some of the game’s mechanics and different features. You are accompanied by one, and eventually two more, people who will help you kill monsters and perform different actions. After killing a few Goblins and Harpies, you face off against the final foe of the first demo, a Chimera. This Lion/Goat/Serpent monstrosity is not easy to kill. You have the ability to jump onto the chimera and start attacking it, which will undoubtedly draw comparisons to Shadow of the Colossus, but it’s executed in a much different way. After taking down the Chimera, the demo ends and you are sent back to the main menu.
The second quest, the Countryside Quest, drops you right in the middle of- you guessed it- a countryside. You and your group take down a few goblins and are almost immediately attacked by a Griffin. This Griffin will make the previous Chimera battle seem like child’s play. It seems like every time you start getting the upper hand he just flies away and regains his health before smashing you. Despite my troubles with the Griffin, this demo just guaranteed that I will play Dragon’s Dogma when it releases on May 22nd.
About Chris Walker
I am a 22 year old avid gamer and writer with a passion for everything technological or literary. I'm also a huge tv show fanatic and animal lover. A regular jack of all trades, at least that's what my mother tells me :D
