Ahead of the release of the Dark Arisen expansion on October 8, the team behind the Dragons Dogma 2 DLC, which also functions as a 2.0 overhaul, discussed the differences in player feedback between different regions. Fans in Japan want different things from their RPG-loving counterparts in the rest of the world, and it can make catering to player expectations and balancing the game extra challenging.
Speaking with Famitsu, producers Naoto Oyama and Yoshiaki Hirabayashi, as well as director Kento Kinoshita, shared their thoughts about the desire to find a middle ground between the design intent of the original game, while still addressing complaints and suggestions they’ve received from players since its launch. Hirabayashi admitted that they struggled in how to best guide and assist players through Dragon’s Dogma‘s harsh open world, with some of their design choices and intended player interactions not being fully appreciated based on the way they were implemented in the original version of the game.
One point the team emphasized was that, while the challenging gameplay was indeed an important aspect of Dragon’s Dogma‘s identity, they were keen not to intentionally place roadblocks that could impede player enjoyment and exploration. “One thing I want to clarify is that I don’t feel like intentional friction is the core identity of Dragon’s Dogma 2,” notes Hirabayashi. “Fundamentally, we didn’t intend to define this game as one where overcoming inconveniences was what was most important. Rather, we feel the most important point of this game is a sense of accomplishment.
“For example, when you reach a mountain, often you have a choice of going half way via some sort of transport, or you can undertake the entire journey on foot from the beginning. While I feel it’s most rewarding to reach the summit by traveling only on foot, we developed the game considering what elements were necessary to incorporate a strong sense of accomplishment into the gameplay itself.”
Ultimately, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a game about player choice and creating satisfaction for achieving your goals, which in some circumstances may be the more challenging, less convenient option. This has seeped into a number of new features being introduced with this DLC. There are plans to reintroduce weapon customization from Dragons Dogma Online because of player demand, but with some players firmly against it, the team have enabled the ability to entirely disable this feature in the settings. Similarly, introducing a Hard Mode came also from fan requests.
Some of the biggest challenges in addressing feedback came because it varied widely by region. “The requests from fans in Japan and the rest of the world were completely opposed to one another,” admits Hirabayashi. “We would categorize feedback and rank it by volume of comments, and it turned out the most important issues for Japan and the rest of the world were directly opposed to one another.”
Oyama added, “Japanese and Asian players are less positive towards being inconvenienced on their journey, while in the West this is often referred to as friction, and in some cases is actually highly desirable. If we stuck too closely to the feedback of one group it may be difficult to please players on the other, so considering that, we’re trying to design a game that audiences in all regions will enjoy.”
The team said they hope that they can provide a new experience (and more dragons) with quality-of-life improvements, without removing what many feel is the heart of this open-world adventure. With the DLC releasing on October 8, it won’t be too long until we know if this expansion threads that needle.
