Dragon’s Dogma was a flawed, yet fairly brilliant open-world RPG. It had quite possibly the best combat ever featured in an action RPG, and allowed players to interact within the community by renting out their own created A.I. pawns as additional party members. It didn’t sell too well, but developed a strong cult following among its player base–including yours truly.
As one of my favorite games of the last console generation, I’ve been grossly sweating with anticipation waiting for Capcom to confirm a possible sequel. Yesterday, the elusive white owl arrived with great news.. sort of. I wasn’t going to Hogwarts, and we may not ever see the next Dragon’s Dogma at all, but a new game in the series does exist!
Dragon’s Dogma Online will be a free-to-play RPG for PC and Playstation home consoles, but as of now it’s only scheduled for release in Japan. Why yes, that’s depression in my voice. There’s always a chance it’ll make its way stateside, but for now, let’s just salivate over the details, shall we?
According to Kotaku, Dragon’s Dogma Online was developed alongside its Dark Arisen counterpart, and will start off at roughly the same size as the original game. It will be expanded upon with different chapters, or seasons, eventually surpassing the original world threefold. That’s a whole lot of ground to cover.
The story behind the game starts with the appearance of a weakened white dragon. Using its mystical dragon powers, they seek out a large population of humans and turn them in to Arisen to help fight for it. Where the original game focused on one Arisen, I’ve always wondered how they would logically explain adding more in to the world. This idea definitely works, so color me intrigued.
In-game lobbies will hold up to 100 players at any given time, and you can group up with three additional players (or fill your empty spots with Pawns) to tackle the game’s massive-scale monster battles. Dragon’s Dogma featured a solid variety of vocations to pick from, although the online pseudo-sequel has only confirmed four thus far: Fighter, Hunter, Priest, and Shield Sage. With Capcom aiming for multiple future updates, there’s a strong possibility we’ll see some returning favorites (I need Sorceror in my life) as the game plays on, and perhaps brand new ones as well.
Capcom has already confirmed that it’ll include microtransactions, as is the case with most F2P games. Since there’s no game company that likes to nickel and dime their consumers as much as Capcom, this alone has me terrified. Then again, I’d happily pay full price for a new Dragon’s Dogma, so I’m fine committing at least $60 if needed.
Dragon’s Dogma Online will release in Japan at some point in 2015, although a release window has yet to be confirmed. As mentioned earlier in the article, there’s no confirmation that this will ever make its way stateside. It will be free-to-play on PS4, PS3, and PC, with no mention of a possible Xbox release. First Street Fighter V, and now this? Say it ain’t so, Capcom!
And now we play the waiting game.
Bradley Keene is the Executive Editor here at What’s Your Tag?, generally handling reviews, public relations, and our social media communications on Facebook and Twitter. He’s an aspiring video game journalist, Baltimore native, and an aficionado of bizarre indie games. If it’s weird and pixely, he’ll like it. If he’s not writing, he can usually be found glued to his OUYA and Xbox One, or knee-deep in an MMO. Get in touch with him by e-mail at the address above, or follow him on Twitter.
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