Dragon’s Dogma 2 is finally out today which means many players are just beginning their journey in Capcom’s massive open world action-RPG. What you’ll immediately notice is that the game tells you some things but certainly not everything as it expects you to sort of figure things out for yourself as you play. In this guide, we’ll take a look at 10 vital things to know before your start your adventure.
Before we jump into the rest of the list, we briefly want to mention the character creation. When you start, you get to create your Arisen as well as your main pawn. However, if you don’t like the look of your Arisen or pawn, there is an option to change your appearances which you can find in the capital city of Vernworth (and other capitals) at the barber. Additionally, you can also change your vocation at any point if you feel like your current one isn’t cutting it. With that out of the way, here are 10 things to know before you start.
1. Your Main Pawn Should Complement Your Arisen
When creating your Arisen and main pawn, you can choose a vocation (or class) for each: Mage, Thief, Archer or Fighter. It would be tempting to create two Fighters and just go melee crazy but it’s incredibly important that your main pawn’s vocation complements your Arisen’s. For example, if you’re a Fighter who gets up-close within dangerous proximity of monsters, a Mage main pawn can provide vital healing spells during combat, or if you’re an Archer, it would be wise to hang back and have a Fighter pawn do close-ranged damage (or distract enemies).
2. Recruit The Best Pawns
The Pawn system in Dragon’s Dogma 2 is surprisingly deep. You can recruit up to two additional support pawns at Riftstones for a full party of four. Entering these rifts will let you pick and choose the best pawns to fill out your party synergy. Like your main pawn, you’ll want to make sure that you have a robust party with many skills suited for battle. If you’re an Archer and your main pawn is a Fighter, try recruiting Mage and Thief pawns to balance things out.
Pawns can also be found randomly while out in the world. On a side note, recruiting pawns in the world by repairing broken Riftstones allows you to bring higher-level pawns into your party at no cost. However, hiring higher-level pawns in rifts require a currency called RC that can be looted from enemies, found in chests or rewarded for repairing the broken Riftstones. Since support pawns can’t level up, make sure you swap them out frequently as your level goes up.
3. Beware When Loading Saves
Dragon’s Dogma 2 has a potentially frustrating save system that you need to be aware of. Unlike most games, Dragon’s Dogma 2 only gives you one save slot. You can technically save whenever you want but this requires you to overwrite your one existing save. The game explicitly warns you not to trust autosave too.
When your character dies, you get the option to either ‘load from last save’ or ‘load from last inn rest.’ Loading from the last save will probably load you back to your last autosave which is normally just a few minutes back at most, though loading from your last inn rest will set you back all the way to the last time you rested at an inn (this doesn’t count for camping) – an autosave then triggers, which means if you accidentally clicked the inn rest option, you have no way of rectifying that mistake.
4. Time Affects Quests (and Items)
One of the biggest lessons you’ll learn in the game is how time progression works. The day-and-night cycle runs every 45 minutes. Some quests will be time-limited, meaning it will automatically fail if you don’t complete it on time. Likewise, items in your inventory such as vegetables or meat can expire with the progression of time. Sure, you can eat it but it will only be detrimental to your health. So when you take on a side quest, make sure that you can finish it within the time constraints.
5. Combine Items for Better Results
Combining items in your inventory is pretty useful. Individual items like apples or Greenwarish plants can restore a small amount of health when consumed but combined, they restore moderately more health. Keep combining items – mix and match healing items most of all – to create better items. It’s very helpful in the long run.
6. Camp Often
While out in the world, you can find camping spots. These act the same as inns so you can replenish lost health (especially since taking damage in fights reduces your overall max health and the amount you can recover). Make sure that you get a camping kit as soon as possible, which can be bought from vendors or merchants. They’re heavy but worth the headache. When night falls, camping is a necessity unless you want to face extremely tough creatures of the night.
7. Fast Travel is Limited
Dragon’s Dogma 2 encourages you to walk everywhere, so be prepared for that. There are fast travel options available but they’re very limited. You can use an oxcart located at major locations but they only travel during the day and are prone to being interrupted by enemy raids. Portcrystals also act as fast travel points and they come in two varieties: permanent and temporary. However, there are downsides to using them.
Permanent Portcrystals are sparse on the map but you can use them as long as you have valuable Ferrystones, which are quite rare. Temporary Portcrystals can be picked up and dropped down anywhere, though they’re also very rare and still require Ferrystones, so place your fast travel points wisely. Otherwise, it’s best to just walk. The world has a lot to offer that you might miss when fast travelling.
8. Augments Apply to All Vocations
You’ll begin unlocking augments for your vocations fairly early on in the game, racking them up as you progress. Augment slots are found in your vocation’s skills, which allow you to apply buffs and various other beneficial stats/skills to your build. As a result, it’s easy to think that augments are only specific to certain vocations. This is not true. Augments can be applied to all vocations, even handed over to your main pawn.
9. Seeker’s Tokens and Wakestones
Some of the most valuable items that you’ll get in the game are Seeker’s Tokens and Wakestones. In total, there are 240 Seeker’s Tokens to be found around the world which are nifty collectibles (for a specific quest, it’s important to remember where you found your first Seeker’s Token. Trust us). Wakestones are rare but you can craft them with the more easily-acquirable Wakestone shards. These give you a free resurrection when you or your pawns fall in battle. It’s best to save Wakestones for particularly tough boss fights.
10. Exploration is Key
It’s easy to just say “take your time” with Dragon’s Dogma 2 but that’s not enough. Instead, make sure you explore. We highly recommend trying to limit fast travel as much as possible unless you really need it because the joy of running into random world events and the ever-shifting landscape makes the game an absolute joy to experience. Slow down and smell the roses soaked in the blood of dragons, meet whacky and memorable NPCs on the road, find Kratos in a tavern (thanks, character creator).
It’s all stuff you’ll miss if you don’t prioritise exploration. Capcom have created a stunning fantasy world here worth seeing, in our opinion.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 is now available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. Make sure you also read our review before diving in.
