Dragon’s Dogma 2 Tips You Need To Know Before Starting

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Dragon’s Dogma 2 is an open-world action RPG, but it’s not like the ones you’ve played before. You might be familiar with The Witcher 3 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, but Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a mix of a more traditional RPG and a hardcore character action game. The rules are a bit different here. Some things are taken more seriously than those other titles, and other things are more lax.

The way you interact with the world here is a bit different, but once you sink into the gameplay loop and master the tricks of the trade, you’ll adore Dragon’s Dogma 2. To help you get to that point, we’ve written down ten tips that new players should heed if they’re to quickly take control and defeat the biggest bosses the game has to offer.

The Timer Is Ticking

Everything you do in Dragon’s Dogma is affected by an invisible timer. In most games you can pick up a quest and decide to tackle it whenever you fancy – not here. If you find a quest about, for example, a young boy taken by wolves, you have a set amount of time to find the lad before he expires. Before accepting quests, think about whether or not you’re likely to tackle them soon, as sometimes you’ll find the quest giver has gotten into trouble while you were busy.

Fast Travel Options

You can fast-travel in Dragon’s Dogma 2 a bit. Ferrystones are a consumable item that you can use to travel to found Portcrystals located around the world – or portable Portcrystals you can place – but you’ll use oxcarts more often.

Oxcarts only go to select locations, and they’re pretty slow, but you can doze off, and when you wake up, you’ll be at your destination. Or you’ll be under siege by some monsters, in which case, don’t let them break the cart, otherwise you’ll have to walk the rest of the way.

Preparation Routine

Before leaving a town or village you should make sure you’re fully prepared for the journey ahead. Excess items should be stored at an inn or your house, ensure curatives are restocked, upgrade your vocation if possible, buy new items if available, and so on. Also, unless you’re doing something specific, you should usually travel in the morning, as the night can cause issues.

Darkness, Imprisoning Me

Night time is dark – it’s also dark in caves. Unless you’re in an area with fiery torches lighting the way, you’ll have to rely on your lantern, and that will need refilled occasionally. Unless you’re good at referencing your main map with your minimap (it’s easier if you turn off minimap rotation in the settings), you will get lost in the darkness, making it easier for tougher creatures to ambush you. But, certain monsters and objectives are only available at night, so you’ll have to weigh up your options.

Vocation Change

You can change your vocation whenever you can access a guild or inn that offers guild services. It’s free, and you should swap depending on your mood. Each vocation unlocks passive buffs that carry across to every vocation, and combining them will result in the most powerful possible builds. Make sure to change your vocation once it reaches max rank so you can level another and get more buffs and abilities – even if you don’t like your new vocation, they will level up quickly, meaning even a short experimental run with one can unlock you some new tricks to use with other vocations. All of this goes for your pawn, too!

Happy Camping

Camping is a convenient way to change the time of day, and like resting at an inn or your home, it also recovers the loss gauge – that’s the permanent health debuff you get from taking damage in combat. If you’re on the road, have taken some hits, and can’t safely make your way to a town, look for campfire smoke which can often be seen from the main road, and beeline there. You can reuse the same camping kit multiple times as long as it doesn’t get destroyed by monsters.

The Right Pawn for the Job

Not only can picking a pawn with an advantageous vocation help you in battle, but pawns can actually hold quest knowledge. When you hire a pawn it will actually say if it has knowledge regarding quests you currently hold, and if you’re stuck, these can be a lifesaver. The right pawn can guide you directly to your target, removing the mystery from some of the more obscure and complex quests.

Quest Logs

You should keep an eye on your quest logs. Quest logs will often reveal information that wasn’t clear during conversations with characters, and could give you solutions that you might not have figured out by yourself. Sometimes the real solution is just grabbing someone.

Uncovering the Map

Progress in Dragon’s Dogma 2 will feel difficult at first, since early quests aren’t as straightforward as you might expect, but you should just focus on filling out your map. You can see the outlines of undiscovered paths on the main map screen, and many of these leads to caves, treasures, enemies, and more. Uncovering the space around Vernworth will help you level up and sink into DD2’s gameplay loop.

No Such Thing as Stealing

You won’t get told off for running into someone’s house and opening up their chests. If an item is interactable, you can pick it up, and nobody will complain. Now, if you go around swinging your weapons at civilians, the guards will perk up and take you down, but unless you’re attacking, you’re very unlikely to ever get arrested.