[Imy Davies]

So I know this game has been out for almost 3 years now but it just came out for PC a couple days ago.

When I first saw the gameplay my initial impressions were how amazing the combat looked as well as the sheer scale of the monsters and environment. Almost felt like a combination of Dark souls and Final Fantasy from what I've seen. Unfortunately, I was also told by my friend who had the 360 version that it ran like a turd so I never borrowed it from him and almost completely forgot about it.

Now it's been released on PC which I'm told is cranking full 60fps with no problems along with all the bells and whistles that were added and from where I'm at its only $39 on Steam which is a fair price for a new game.

What are you thoughts on the game and would you recommend it? How long did it take for you to beat everything and how do you think it compares to Bethesda's games?

[Kanaoka]

Don't know what exactly your friend means by it running like a turd. The PS3 version was perfectly playable to me.

As for the game itself...few other games out there do as good a job simulating the feel of fighting giant monsters as Dragon's Dogma. There are a lot of perfectly valid ways to fight them; you can climb on top of them, you can hack at their weak points, cast powerful spells, shoot arrows, and so on. The combat indeed combines the best aspects of Soulsborne with Devil May Cry and Shadow of the Colossus. Also, I love the way the game handles its day-night cycle. Nighttime is very dangerous; it's so dark that you can't see a thing without a lantern, and even then your visibility is low. Nocturnal creatures also come out to play, and they're tougher than the daylight animals. You need to plan your excursions, buying all the supplies you'll need at the main city and setting out early in the morning. The character-customizing is one of the best out there too; you can make your character (and main pawn) a musclebound giant, a bony waif, an amazon, someone with dwarfism, a child, or whatever you like, and there's a very nice selection of armor and clothing to wear. http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/dragonsdogma/images/6/62/Guts_and_Griffith.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130823162454, which is a huge plus in my book.

That aside, it does have problems that made it hard for me to ever want to replay it. There's way too much back-and-forth running. While the size of the map is respectable, there really aren't enough locations in it, so they tend to keep recycling the same destinations. And while fighting big monsters is always a hoot, taking on the smaller foes like goblins, bandits, harpies, and wolves is not fun at all. End result is that there's a lot of boring backtracking in a generally unexciting world that's constantly interrupted by tedious fights that don't really pose any risk to you but which you have to deal with anyway.

It's not a bad game in the least. When it's good, it's fantastic, and it has by far the best dragon fight in a video game. It just has a lot of annoyances that bog it down. I can only hope that, if Capcom doesn't clean up its act and release a sequel, then at least someone will take some cues from Dragon's Dogma and try their own hand at something like it.

[carley moss]

I own it, both the original and the Dark Arisen editions, on PS3 and I can vouch for it as a solid game worth every penny. It's not very heavily story rich like TES, but the plot is very deep than the initial assumption the beginning might offer, the gameplay is awesome (Seriously, the dragon and enemy fighting in this game is what Skyrim's dragon fighting should be.) and the character design and class options are very versatile. I thoroughly recommend it to anyone looking for a good fantasy and action game.