The open-world action game, “Dragon’s Dogma 2” director Hideaki Itsuno, brought live footage and game content to share during the 2024 Taipei International Game Show, and also talked about his feelings about launching a sequel after 12 years.
The new work continues the core setting of “Dragon Doctrine”. Players play the role of an “awakened one” whose heart was taken away by a dragon. After losing his memory, he finds out the secrets one by one.
Why is there only a sequel after 12 years? Itsuno Hideaki said that it is because there are too many work schedules; he is actually looking forward to the sequel.
After 12 years of absence, Itsuno Hideaki added that at this year’s Taipei Game Show, I was a little worried when I first entered the venue, but I felt very happy when I saw the enthusiasm of the players in the audience.
After all, the world has changed a lot over the years, and even AI technology has developed significantly. Faced with the high expectations of players, Itsuno believes that the producer’s position is very simple, which is to present the follow-up to “Dragon Doctrine”. But he still felt the unnamed pressure that the environment brought to the development team: “What kind of AI open world RPG will it be?” But for him, the original intention has not changed, and he still wants to bring the things he likes most to players.
“Dragon Doctrine 2” is a fantasy adventure with thousands of NPCs. Each NPC is given an AI life and has things it wants to accomplish. Players can create a follower (PAWN) by themselves, and follow the auxiliary followers from other players through the online mode to form a team of up to 4 people to work together in this highly realistic century.
In the same way that players can create their own appearance of the Awakened, followers can also do the same, record every bit of the adventure with themselves/others, and change their action patterns. It is a game where even one person can experience a team-like gaming experience.
Compared with the previous game, although the world scale of “Dragon Doctrine 2” is conservatively estimated to be about 4 times larger, Hideaki Itsuno revealed that it is actually more than 4 times larger.
This game has 4 basic professions (Warrior, Rogue, Mage, Archer), plus the option of converting professions, a total of 9 options are available. (On February 1st, the profession “Resuscitator” dedicated to awakeners was also announced). For beginners, Itsuno Hideaki suggests that you can choose an archer with built-in auxiliary aim, or a warrior who requires proficiency.
Then, one of the features of this battle is that you can climb monsters or even stand on monsters. However, monsters will try their best to break free, so players also need enough endurance points and skills; once successful, they may overthrow large monsters or be carried to other areas by flying monsters.
Hideaki Itsuno did not forget to remind players. If you encounter an occasion in the game where you can pick flowers, be sure to take advantage of it. Flowers are very precious gifts in “Dragon Doctrine 2”. He even did not forget to tease (?) that the “Pendant of Favor” as a bonus in the deluxe edition was originally named “The Pendant of Childhood Sweethearts”, which means that as long as it is given to the NPC, the relationship between the two will be like that of childhood sweethearts!
PC Steam, PS5, Xbox Series X|S “Dragon Doctrine 2” is expected to be released on March 22, 2024.
