Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

Pros: Overall it is a very fun game and RPG. Combat is very immersive and playing any class you want at any time keeps the game fresh. Cons: A HUGE PROBLEM is that the pawn rental system does not work with this game as it is current bugged with gog or capcom having no interest in fixing it. If you are truly interested in purchasing DD, I'd suggest going through steam as they have fixed the bugs and rental system fully.

This is the very best open world RPG game if we were to take The Elder Scrolls out of the equation. This is not the meta "perfect" game, but it has things in the game other RPGs could only dream of having. The character creator is one of the best you'll see in a video game, you can create anything from the fat to thin, elderly to child, choosing multiple voices, builds and heights. Your chosen character can then be seen in the real time cutscenes. The gameplay is simply addicting and amazing where the combat is fast, fluid and responsive, whilst also having a variety of enemies you are forced to change your approach to match their weaknesses. An example would be flying harpies where melee isn't as great as a ranged attack or using that one ability that lets you jump high in the sky for an attack. Large enemies, and in particular bosses, can be physically climbed onto where you're free to hack and slash at it as long as it doesn't throw you off or try to squish you. It's pretty epic hanging onto the wing of a griffin as it ascends into the skies. The story and characters are so-so, I mean they are serviceable in order to tell a story, but don't expect to be walking away questioning your own morales or anything. Having said that, certain quests have a real-time cutscene to add flavour to them, which is pretty cool. Though I always felt this game isn't about telling some epic story of ancient lords, rather this game thrives in gameplay and replay value. There's a TON of content, included in this Dark Arisen expansion, as well as new game+ and lots of quests and exploration to do. The PC comes enhanced with graphic and framerate options, no microtransactions, all the content as-is and great modding support over at the Nexus. Being a RPG you would expect to make dialogue choices and such but this is more about choosing your gameplay style and messing with the pawn system to create a unique 4-man party. The pawn system is really cool, though confusing at first. Buy!

I`m in the middle of this on the Steam version. This is a 3rd person rpg where you are the "Arisen" and must go and slay some Dragon that`s causing lots of aggro in a long quest. You can completely design how you look, black, white, male female). You have 3 basic classes Sword/Bow and magic which further advances into 6 later. There are lots of items, weapons and clothes to pick. The game doesn`t really explain why, but there are a bunch of people who never really die who are called "Pawns". They look and act Human, but don`t really have much self will. And because you are the Arisen, you get a free personal pawn Helper. This Helper serves you no matter what, you can make it whatever class you want, even how it will speak (it uses a great varied audio speech system) and even their character traits from rude to meek, etc. So I made an ideal pretty lady Magic user with a meek countenance to be a Helper on my travels. They also sort of learn after a while of travelling with you, remembering where they last were. It`s a really, really nice and endearing after a while of travelling with them- more games should do this. Areas to explore are large and interesting, also enemies don`t scale with you so be very careful where you go. If an enemy is too tough, leave until you get better, or hire 2 more Helper pawns. Save often. Travelling can be time consuming and especially difficult in the dark, but I like it. Monsters are GLORIOUS. You can attack as normal, but also climb them and try to destroy key parts of them to take them down faster. Sometimes they will desperately grab at you as you stab at their face and cry in pain, while your Helper fires magic from the ground. It`s really very well done. Criticisms? Pawns can be a bit stupid, repeating the same thing. Fights are somewhat arcade reminiscent of Soul Calibur beat-em ups, you can see the Japanese influence. I would`ve prefered a 1st person view mode. Highly Recommended. Will buy this version too.

If you let it, this game will keep you up all night. The enemies will not level with you, this makes some areas of the game virtually inaccessible from the onset of the game. That being said, you shouldn't need any grinding if you walk to everywhere you need to go, rather than use ferrystones to fast travel, and explore the world. There's a large area on the bottom left part of the map that the main story won't lead you to and as I recall only one side quest has you travel through. If you like games where exploration is encouraged but not forced then you'll love this world. Here's wishing you luck for now, and countless lifetimes come to pass.