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Exploration in Dragon’s Dogma is encouraged, worthwhile, and memorable. I don’t remember many locations in Skyrim. Or more specifically, I can’t recall how exactly the world "fits" together. I have no sense of space in Skyrim because Skyrim gives me the tools to ignore its many virtual miles. Once I reach a place, I can fast-travel back there at any time and from anywhere. I need not remember the path.
Most damningly, Skyrim’s square world is a featureless map of indiscernible terrain. My only mark as I explore is the series of found locations that plot the landscape like a collection of network nodes, a sensation that the aforementioned fast travel only reinforces. Discovery loses its luster when it only feels as though I’m checking off hidden doors instead of carefully detailing previously unseen valleys or forests or fields.
Dragon’s Dogma’s only form of simulated teleportation is the consumable Ferrystone item, which sends my party back to the central city of Gran Soren upon use. If I need to go anywhere in the game, in most cases I must actually go there. Gransys features many natural barriers, such as mountain ranges and impassible oceans, that will make any first foray into uncharted territory a grand adventure.
Like an early escort mission that took my party through the winding canyons of a mountain pass. As we traversed this peak, the sun set over trees rustling from increasingly strong winds. That simultaneously uneasy, anxious, and exciting feeling when the sky turns grey in the dim evening that signifies an approaching violent storm became unavoidable.
We lit our lanterns as darkness blanketed our surroundings, and that’s when we heard the siren call cut though the night. “Harpies!” cried Valkyrie as half-woman, half-avian creatures swept down for their attack. They darted in and out of our small illuminated area, adding to the high tension of the battle. When it was all over, we continued on much more cautiously. Nighttime is actually nighttime in Dragon’s Dogma.
I’ll remember that battle, but more importantly, I’ll remember that mountain pass -- its high rock walls and all of its twists and turns. As I explore and parts of the world reveal themselves on my map, Gransys comes alive and feels like a real place.
Dragon’s Dogma is likely to become a cult hit over here in the States. Games critic Tom Chick best summed up how antithetical Dragon’s Dogma is to Western approaches to RPG design in his parody review that postulates how a North American publisher like Electronic Arts would view the "quirks" of Capcom’s latest. These oddities, though, are exactly what make the game more exciting, engaging, and inherently rewarding.
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