Dragon's Dogma vs Skyrim

[billyro]

I've done up a comparison between Capcom's "Dragon's Dogma" (Xbox 360), Bethesda's "Skyrim" (Xbox 360) and Skyrim (PC).

I rated certain aspects of the games out of ten, then changed it into a percentage to get a final result.

 

 

Graphics:

-Dragon's Dogma (Xbox 360): for an Xbox 360 game, I was genuinely surprised at the excellent graphics of this game. It was also optimised pretty well, and I enjoyed having 30fps+ everywhere. 8/10

-Skyrim (Xbox 360): I thought the game was ugly on Xbox in comparison to the PC version. The textures were crap and the frames per second count was very low even for the quality of the game. 6/10

-Skyrim (PC): Skyrim on the PC with Ultra settings can't really get any better as a vanilla game. Sure, it can be better with mods, but Skyrim still looks good without them. 9/10

 

Sound:

-Dragon's Dogma (Xbox 360): The music was great. I reckon the music was what kept this score alive, aside from the menu music which was a bit crazy. Points off because of some annoying, repetitive sound effects. 7/10

-Skyrim (Xbox 360): Music is very good and sounds were good too. It saddened me that the only time you heard epic music was at the main menu and when fighting dragons. The Morrowind theme implementation was good, but sadly I felt it didn't fit as well into Skyrim. 8/10

-Skyrim (PC): Same as Xbox, but there was a widespread annoyance; low volume that couldn't be cranked. 7/10

 

Story:

-Dragon's Dogma (Xbox 360): The story of Dragon's Dogma was adequate, if a bit corny. A dragon eats your heart and you have to get it back? Not much of a story until you find out more about the world (no spoilers here). Plus, since you're spending most of your time levelling up, you almost forget the story until you can actually beat it. 6/10

-Skyrim (Xbox 360): The main quest line was also adequate, though I felt Bethesda could have added more meat to it. 6/10

-Skyrim (PC): Same as Xbox version. 6/10

 

Controls:

-Dragon's Dogma (Xbox 360): Although the controls are hard to get used to at first, once you get the hang of it it's quite enjoyable and easy to manoeuvre. 8/10

-Skyrim (Xbox 360): Nice easy controls and basic gameplay assures that all gamers can play. Sadly there are some annoyances such as NPCs walking faster than you and stuff. 8/10

-Skyrim (PC): Same as Xbox, though you're limited to 8-directional movement. 7/10

 

Characters:

-Dragon's Dogma (Xbox 360): Dragon's Dogma is filled with characters with only one line of dialogue, and it gets boring after a while. 5/10

-Skyrim (Xbox 360): Skyrim has a lot of characters who have at least 3 lines of dialogue each, which is a bit better. 7/10

-Skyrim (PC): Same as Xbox version. 7/10

 

Unique Characters:

-Dragon's Dogma (Xbox 360): Dragon's Dogma makes up for it's bland standard NPCs with it's fairly interesting unique characters. The way they communicate is still bland, though. Another thing that surprised me was that you can have romances with NPCs (to complete the game, you WILL romance someone) and the cutscenes are animated, despite the possibility of height difference (so the characters kiss no matter what). 7/10

-Skyrim (Xbox 360): There aren't that many interesting characters in Skyrim, because a lot of the personalities have already been done before. 7/10

-Skyrim (PC): Same as Xbox version. 7/10

 

Challenge/Accomplishment:

-Dragon's Dogma (Xbox 360): If you don't struggle with this game, I applaud you. If you don't feel like you've achieved something great when you defeat enemies you couldn't a few levels ago, then you're playing the wrong type of game. 10/10

-Skyrim (Xbox 360): I didn't feel like a legendary person when I beat Skyrim. I was treated exactly the same way after beating the main quest as before, despite saving the world. Also, because of the togglable difficulty, some encounters can be made harder or easier. Good or bad, depending on how it's used. 6/10

-Skyrim (PC): Same as Xbox version. 6/10

 

Replayability:

-Dragon's Dogma (Xbox 360): You can go through this game and smash it a second time, thanks to the game's New Game+ feature. Aside from starting the adventure a second time, you will have a blast exploring the country side in dangerous territory. 8/10

-Skyrim (Xbox 360): Yeah, there is a ton to do in Skyrim, but once you've done it, there's no need to go back to it. 7/10

-Skyrim (PC): Woo! There is unlimited replayability thanks to MODDING. 10/10

 

Enjoyment:

-Dragon's Dogma (Xbox 360): Very fun aside from its annoyances. 8/10

-Skyrim (Xbox 360): Very fun aside from its repetitiveness.7/10

-Skyrim (PC): Very fun aside from its crashes. 8/10

 

 

 

 

The final results were:

-Dragon's Dogma (Xbox 360): 67/80 = 84%

-Skyrim (Xbox 360): 62/80 = 78%

-Skyrim (PC): 67/80 = 84%

 

It's a toss up between Skyrim on the PC and Dragon's Dogma...

Edited August 7, 2012 by billyro

[DaedalusMachina]

I'm surprised you didn't mention the actual Dragons themselves. Dragons in Dragon's Dogma ALL made Alduin look about as dangerous as a puppy.

 

I have to agree with you, Dragon's Dogma FORCES you to play smart, especially at low levels. You run around at night at low levels, you will die.

 

I'd also have something to add to Dragon's Dogma, there's a very, very, VERY good chance that on a first playthrough, you will miss something. A lot of different quests in the game have virtually invisible windows of opportunity in which to take them.

 

Skyrim's control issues can be eliminated with the use of a cheap Madkatz XBox controller. A lot of games are difficult to play without it. However, I've actually had more experience with crashes on XBox than I did on PC, for whatever reason.

 

As far as what I didn't like about Dragon's Dogma, the characters that journey with you were great, they did their job mostly well, but they talk. so. damn. much. And I don't think I cared for how the game selected who you were romancing sometimes, which would often include simply people you did the most business with. So if you bought the ridiculously cheap travel items from a particular vendor over and over, surprise makeouts! Fun times.

[billyro]

Heheh, yep. "The road splits here. Let's be doubly sure which will see us to our destination."

 

And you've put in some points that I'd also forgotten. Good pick up there.

[Vindekarr]

Agreed, the Dragon's in Dragons Dogma are... amazing. Huge, scary, monstrous and beautifully rendered. Good, fair reviews though, nicely written.

 

My thoughts on them both:

 

Skyrim(PC): Vanilla game is really pretty great but for me it would be nearly unplayable without mods to spice it up. I tend to play melee, with a sword/shield heavy armour character, and this works well in Skyrim since the combat system is very melee-focused, however I often do my second playthrough with a Mage, once I've learned the game and can make better use of it. With that in mind, it's quite a bland combat system, the spells don't really feel very magical until you're seriously skilled up, as they're all a bit monotone, and while the effects are pretty, they just don't feel allpowerful like in other games, and you can't help but wonder if bashing people with your staff would do more damage.

 

The story could have done with being more compelling(I never finished it, I couldn't be bothered) and the characters really needed work. Skyrim felt believable as a fantasy world, but the lack of many good characters, shot it down a bit. AI companions illustrate the game's other main deficiency, the AI: they are a crazy bunch of suicidal lemmings unable to make proper use of their abilities or think tactically, instead simply flailing at you until you put them out of their misery. They can also be tricked easily into friendly fire, or suicide.

 

Dragon's Dogma: Mage paradise, but a bit scary for Melee due to the JRPG-like combat system. Melee works beautifully thanks to an innovative "mount" system that lets you attack big monsters by climbing up their backs and bashing the snot out of their more vulnerable bits. This gives it an almost God Of War/Shadow Of The Collosus feel, climbing a giant Cyclops and beating it over the head, rather than stabbing it four-hundred times in the ankle while circle-strafing. The AI is also very proficient, with surprising tactical skill. Companions show a good knowledge of their abilities and how to use them, and while they're not perfect, they're a damn lot smarter than Lydia The Lemming.

 

On the downside, the voice acting is beyond terrible, as if the English lines were recorded from dyspraxic people who could only barely speak english anyway. Graphics aren't much better-even on 1080p HD they look dated from a distance, get far enough away and they revert to PS2 grade and even lower. Closer in, they work well, and to be fair, the lighting is stunning, especialy in a forest. This is a very grindey game, as to beat that nasty dragon you're going to need to be a serious badass, however, despite the at times painful grind, there is one thing that can pull you through: new game + makes the game feel oddly rewarding for me, if my hard work grinding was going to go away once the dragon died, it might have felt wasted, but that character is permanent, and so is my work. It feels like making something rather than simply being forced to struggle towards a boss for a one-off adventure.

 

Quirks/stuff that didn't work right: Dragon's Dogma had some... funky romantic encounters. Some of them are... unexpected and a little goofy, but in a funny kind of way. If you get through the game without giggling as your character makes a snap decision to snog a barkeeper you've repeatedly bought from, I salute thee. Maybe the Arisen was just really lonely? In a perverse sort of way it actually makes your character seem more... human since they clearly and repeatedly display the ability to feel emotions, That just doesn't happen in some other games, even if the most common expression is pouncing on and snogging some poor hapless merchant.

 

Skyrim's version is it's "WTP" "What The Physics?!" moments when the game's engine goes horribly terribly badly wrong. Bandits take off like rocketships, Giants hit you for a home run(especialy funny with god mode, fast travel the "other" way) and sometimes creatures just go... wrong. This game has some seriously funny physics related bugs.

 

Overall: Both utterly polished games, with some minor issues. I'd have Dragon's Dogma, but that's just because I preffer that sort of thing. Get either, and you'll be glad you did, but for heaven's sake get Skyrim on PC, the console version is unmoddable.

Edited August 7, 2012 by Vindekarr

[hoofhearted4]

my view on these games is very opinionated. ive never played Skyrim. no desire in the slightest. just not my type of game. first person slow melee just doesnt seem fun to me. and a long open ended world like that with a story im not interested in (unlike FallOut where i love the story) would get old fast for me.

 

Dragons Dogma on the other hand (Ps3) ive played, but not too much. got to level 35. im probably not even half way through the game, or maybe just over half. but it got soooo boring soooo fast. too much traveling. too much running and then waiting for stamina to recharge mega slowly. on top of the reetativeness of running back and forth the huge map, you level your vocation quite quickly. so its not long before youve unlocked everything for your vocation and no longer have any new moves to try, meaning your using the same moves for most of the game. you can change vocations, but playing multiple vocations in one play through, seems like it would ruin replayability. but maybe thats just me.

 

ill go back to DD someday, but it seriously gets boring fast. NEEDS quick travel badly.

 

DD is also getting (or already got) a patch to make it easier (or the option to make it easier) i honestly didnt think the game was hard at all in my time with the game. now im sure it gets hard later, but in the beginning, its easy. unless you try to take on an Ogre or Troll (forget which one was the stronger harder one) or something before your supposed to.

[JimboUK]

I think they are both good games but both are flawed in one way or another. Skyrim is very pretty with some great art direction but it's also shallow, nothing is really done well, a lot of it feels phoned in. Dragons Dogma does most things well but it has a few things that ruined it for me, the constant back tracking through enemies that you only recently killed, the repetitive NPC dialogue and the uneven learning curve. The combat was excellent though and I thought the pawn system was a great idea, it's Capcoms first try at this kind of game and I think it was quite a good first effort.

[billyro]

Definitely. I hope they make more.

 

The pawns were okay, but they just felt like minions (which is what they are) but it's not as fun as fleshed out characters. Plus, I wish there was a way to turn off their incessant comments on everything.

[Vindekarr]

You can carry/throw pawns just like any other object. If they get bad enough near the end of their useful level range you can "retire" them via the nearest cliff, be careful though, as pawns are water soluble, and while throwing one into a river may sound like a funny way to shut them up, it will kill them. Instantly. Taking all their gear with them. Edited August 9, 2012 by Vindekarr

[billyro]

You can carry/throw pawns just like any other object. If they get bad enough near the end of their useful level range you can "retire" them via the nearest cliff, be careful though, as pawns are water soluble, and while throwing one into a river may sound like a funny way to shut them up, it will kill them. Instantly. Taking all their gear with them.

Heheh, way ahead of you. :P

You can't take their armour/weapons anyway, and the materials and curatives are easily replaced. At least it's fun watching them go splat.

[dthumb]

Got Dragon's Dogma a week ago for the PS3 and I have 2 complaints:

1. Fuzzy resolution- might just be me being a newb in this console gen, but NBA2K, Max Payne, RE5 looks way better. Strains my eyes after 30 minutes.

2. Not available for PC- i can't sit at the couch without me being interrupted by someone every 5-15 minutes.

 

Dragon's Dogma filled the gameplay gap that was missing in Skyrim and I love it! But it also suffers the same issue that Skyrim has... inventory management.