Dragon’s Dogma 2 Director Hideaki Itsuno Talks Pawns, Beastren, and Mastering the Mystic Spearhand
“Fights between monsters previously occurred as scripted events, but thanks to the development of technology we were able to have them happen in a natural way.”
Dragon’s Dogma 2 has been a long time coming. A sequel to a 2012 cult classic that’s only grown in popularity year by year, Capcom’s distinctive RPG is heavily reliant on immersion, letting players insert themselves into a grand fantasy world as a chosen hero called the Arisen. But for director Hideaki Itsuno, also known for Devil May Cry 5, it all comes down to one simple feature.
“The very concept of this game is contained in the character creation,” Itsuno tells Inverse, revealing that Capcom scanned over 80 real people to provide the data for the game’s character creator. “The character creation process for your Arisen allows you to get emotionally involved with your alter ego and maximize your immersion in this world and in your Main Pawn as your partner.”
Players were able to create their characters ahead of time thanks to the Dragon’s Dogma 2 demo.
Pawns are one of the most unique elements of Dragon’s Dogma, letting you craft a traveling companion in whatever image you want who can then go on and help other players on their journey. Dragon’s Dogma 2 gives Pawns even more of a personality, making them feel less like a faceless NPC and more like an actual party member. Itsuno hopes the detail in the Pawn system will help “deepen the connection” between players, even if they aren’t directly interacting.
Ahead of Dragon’s Dogma 2’s release, Inverse had the chance to ask Itsuno about his highly anticipated RPG. His answers reveal new details about the game’s character creator tools, its upgraded Pawns, and how to get the most out of Dragon’s Dogma 2’s new Vocation, the Mystic Spearhand.
“We’ve been able to make it possible to customize characters and achieve a photorealistic look without making it too difficult, and that's something we're proud of.”
Can you talk a bit about the actual development of the character creator? How difficult and complex is it to provide so many options and variables for players to tweak?
In order to allow players to create photorealistic characters, we scanned over 80 different people. However, even with this data, characters often feel unnatural when allowing full customization. With our character creator, however, I think we’ve been able to make it possible to customize characters and achieve a photorealistic look without making it too difficult, and that's something we're proud of.
Why did you decide to have four starting vocations in Dragon’s Dogma 2, versus the three in the first game? How do you balance combat around each vocation?
Vocations have been reorganized to make the characteristics of each vocation more prominent in this game. Some elements from the Strider from the first game, such as agility and melee combat, have shifted to the Thief vocation, while elements such as long-range attacks with bow and arrow have been moved to the Archer vocation, to round out the four initial vocations.
We have also restructured other vocations outside these four, and I believe every vocation is appealing. The most important thing for us was whether it was fun to play when you have a party with multiple vocations, rather than balance combat between vocations.
“You should always have your bolt ready to stagger or slow an approaching foe while executing other commands.”
The Mystic Spearhand has gotten a lot of attention in preview coverage. Could you tell me a bit about the vocation and what makes it special? What kind of party compositions does it support?
The Mystic Spearhand is a vocation with a lot of action elements, with an emphasis on technique. However, since they are vulnerable to being hit, you should always have your bolt ready to stagger or slow an approaching foe while executing other commands. Since the range of the Mystic Spearhand is wide, you can freely organize your party according to your own skills.
How have you updated Pawns and their AI in Dragon’s Dogma 2? How has this changed, or improved, combat from the first game?
Rather than simply making them smarter, we have enhanced them to make their "personalities" stand out more. Pawns can also talk to each other, making them feel more like traveling companions. I think it is closer to the feeling of having a real friend controlling the pawns than in the previous game.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 takes advantage of new technology to “build a living world.”
It's been reported the first Dragon's Dogma had a lot of cut content. Were there any particular ideas or mechanics you had to cut out of the first game that you were able to realize with this sequel?
One element that was not implemented in the first game due to technology was the beastren. With the hardware available at the time, it was difficult to depict a large number of beastren simultaneously. Another idea that existed in the first game was the dragonsplague, the details of which have not been disclosed.
Fights between monsters previously occurred as scripted events, but thanks to the development of technology we were able to have them happen in a natural way through the habits of the monsters. This allowed us to build a living world, which is among the things we really wanted to do.
