I've completed the achievements in both games, but if you want to take your pawns for a walk, go with DD2. If you don't have time and want to play right away, DDDA is for you.

so 2 is not a clear upgrade?

The pawn system has been carried over, but the actions and other aspects are completely different. There are some things inherited from DDDA, such as skills, but they are not exactly the same.

If you play DD2 thinking it's DDDA, you'll be very confused ^^;

The stories are also from parallel worlds, so they are not connected.

awesome, thank you!

Each has its own merits.

DD 2 is a big downgrade from DDDA, less variety enemy, no memorable music, Grigori fight and scene is so underwhelming, Girgori does not feel as impactful as the first game. no end game, no everfall. less skills, all vocation got a downgrade. its an okay game but compared to the first, its a step back.

Dark arisen is 50x better from BBI alone, DD2 suffers from lack of variety & god awful story telling.

They lead you into a false sense of "choices matter" but same conclusion aside from true ending, Nothing changes about rulership, nothing changes about the false sovreign, everyone meta games knowledge and knows your the actual arisen.

DD2 is like they took Chatgpt and told it to write a sequel to Dragons Dogma 1 with a twist on the arisen part.

Combat is better in Dragons Dogma 1 aswell so there's that . . + Fashion is way better.

Yeah I watched some DD2 clips after getting into DDDA and seeing the pawns say the exact same things I'm like wait what hahahaha sidegrade.

Originally posted by Legiondorf:

Yeah I watched some DD2 clips after getting into DDDA and seeing the pawns say the exact same things I'm like wait what hahahaha sidegrade.

The biggest redflag is the playercount, Dark Arisen maintained much higher numbers for much longer on steam.

Dogma 2 wittled down to 2k in 10 months, That's not a good sign.

Dogma 2 is a sign that the original developer of Dogma 1 (Before DA) didn't learn a single thing about why DA succeeded when his base game flopped.

I'm holding hope they get the same team that made DA and make them salvage D2 aswell, Then if we ever get Dogma 3 make that guy develop it, Do not bring back itsuno.

Originally posted by Sel Und Irae:

Originally posted by Legiondorf:

Yeah I watched some DD2 clips after getting into DDDA and seeing the pawns say the exact same things I'm like wait what hahahaha sidegrade.

The biggest redflag is the playercount, Dark Arisen maintained much higher numbers for much longer on steam.

Dogma 2 wittled down to 2k in 10 months, That's not a good sign.

Dogma 2 is a sign that the original developer of Dogma 1 (Before DA) didn't learn a single thing about why DA succeeded when his base game flopped.

I'm holding hope they get the same team that made DA and make them salvage D2 aswell, Then if we ever get Dogma 3 make that guy develop it, Do not bring back itsuno.

To be fair DDDA is wayyyy cheaper and runs on a smart fridge CPU unlike DD2

Originally posted by qaz:

Originally posted by Sel Und Irae:

The biggest redflag is the playercount, Dark Arisen maintained much higher numbers for much longer on steam.

Dogma 2 wittled down to 2k in 10 months, That's not a good sign.

Dogma 2 is a sign that the original developer of Dogma 1 (Before DA) didn't learn a single thing about why DA succeeded when his base game flopped.

I'm holding hope they get the same team that made DA and make them salvage D2 aswell, Then if we ever get Dogma 3 make that guy develop it, Do not bring back itsuno.

To be fair DDDA is wayyyy cheaper and runs on a smart fridge CPU unlike DD2

DDDA is overall better game. DD2 managed to ruin itemization: only 4 slots remain - body, helmet, legs and cape. Compare it to DDDA with undershirt, uppershirt, underpants, upperpants, gloves, helmet and cape. Who even asked for slot reduction?

Originally posted by Rodrick:

Hi All!
So, I have this, played it a lot, never beat BBI though.
I want to play DD2 so bad, but I hear its DD1.5, wuth less skills and few enemies, and the worse optimization ever.
I was waiting on a dark arisen update that would beef it up and fix some stuff but I hear that is hardcore copium so lets put that aside. DD2 is also quite expensive where Im at.

All that to say, should I keep replaying DD1 or go to 2, considering this might be as good as it gets. Or will my money be better off somewhere else? Thank you!

Less ACTIVE skills, not less skills on basis, (at least for most vocations.)
DD 2 has a similar story, but is much mor sandbox-like. There are much more caves to explore, but the loot is less spectacular, although not useless.

There is no eternal ferrystone in the game. But there are other options for fasttravel. There are more main villages and places ithere. Two main cities, tow lesser villages, and an important plot-village. (without a vocations-guild, which I realy don't understand.)

Pawns behaviour are way better in part 2, but they're much much simpler mechainc-wise. (only 4 inclinations, that won't change on their own. And they learn just buy practicing the same fights again and again. No witness of special tactics needed afaik.) In comparison to part 1, however, they also learn about the regions, that are in the game. You need to camp a lot of time, to achieve that, but once, you did, they will lead you to locations, you didn't explore, yet. (caves, for example. But also treasure-chests, rift-portals and campsites.)

The MK isn't there anymore (and I don't miss that vocation, tbh.) But there is the Mystic Spearhand instead. This is a much more offensive, melee/Umagic-hybrid.

The the hate-or-love-class, of course. The trickster. (hated by most players...)

The vocations are much more focused, all having just one weapon with 4 skills for that weapon. The warfarer is a speciality, that can mix all other vocations available. but don't get the stat-bonuses of them. (and you are literally a jack-of-all-trades-but-master-of-none...) e. g. you won't get the master-skills with the warfarer. (the warfarers masterskill is the weapon-changing on the fly.)

The maximum rift-crystal-price for hiring a pawn is 3000. (in the beginning, the price was much higher, endlessly rising the more the difference to your own level is, but it was patched accordingly.)

The maximum level is 999. (which is just useless. You'll never reach that with normal gameplay. If you play normall, you even aren't level 100 at the end of the game...)

I'm NOT saying, that DDDA is the better game, I say quite the contrary. The only vocation. that's better in part 1 is the sorcerer. All others, including the mage and Magic Archer imho, are better in part 2 gameplay-wise. That said, the sorcerer and mage definitly should have a second row for their spells The core-skills aren't that usefull for attacking anymore (they have other functions, instead.
The core-skills of all other vocations are way better than in part one, so "only" 4 active skills is nearly irrelevant.)

Story- and quest-wise, the first game isn't better, too. imho. You can't yourself lock out of areas in part 2, if you don't do the according side-quests. All areas are open from the beginning or will open, when you reach a ceratain point in the plot.(That is only 1 dungeion. and a secreat verison of the world.) And the stories behind the side-quests are at least as good as the stories of the side-quest of DDDA.

The main plot is in both games not the best. And I must admit, that I can aggree, that it feels rushed, when you reach a ceartain point of the main plot.

Lords of the Realm 2

That’s a tough one, honestly.
Migromul already gave a pretty solid breakdown, but I just want to add that these games are best enjoyed as sandbox exploration adventures. DD2 does that way better than the first game, in my opinion. Forget the main story for a bit—just wander around, explore, and you’ll find some really cool side stories, gear, master skills, and even hidden dungeons or boss fights.

I had a great time with it, and I definitely plan to replay DD2 in the future and actually finish it (had to put it on hold because of IRL stuff). But yeah, if you go in with that mindset, I think you’ll really enjoy it.

Originally posted by Rodrick:

Hi All!
So, I have this, played it a lot, never beat BBI though.
I want to play DD2 so bad, but I hear its DD1.5, wuth less skills and few enemies, and the worse optimization ever.
I was waiting on a dark arisen update that would beef it up and fix some stuff but I hear that is hardcore copium so lets put that aside. DD2 is also quite expensive where Im at.

All that to say, should I keep replaying DD1 or go to 2, considering this might be as good as it gets. Or will my money be better off somewhere else? Thank you!

lemme give you some blunt critical honesty: none. these games are bad, no matter how fanatical the fanbase is, there are far better games available, some of which predate this game by years.