Well, i was playing this game for about 20+ hours now, maybe 5 hours additionally because i had to reload a old Inn-save due to stuff going very bad or even bugged. For example: A follower was trying to "lead me the way", told me there is a "short cut" and boooom he was falling and dead... simply stupid AI... not even sure if Capcom did this on purpose... who knows.
In general, i had to reload many fights because a follower... very rarely myself... was dying during a hard battle. It would require a valuable Wakestone and... sorry people... so far those stones are simply to valuable to me using it regularily for "battle assistance". So, Capcom surely made this game somewhat "grindy" for making it rare. However... at the current time i was tuning the character including main pawn so well that a dead is rarely happening under usual circumstances with the well known fights (Ogre, Minotaur and whatelse).
All the Wakestones, 2 so far, was only used in order to revive some dead NPCs lying around during a mission... which surely was a hard thing to me, knowing its value... but it could have an impact on the game and many outcomes. Currently, after 20 hours, i only got 2 more Wakestones left and in total 5 Ferrystones (never used, currently way to valuable). If you do not reload the game very quick if something went wrong... then it could lead to "waste of those rare stones"... and... of course they can be gotten on the PSN market for "real money". So, to the people struggling ingame it surely can be useful but for the advanced core-gamers (usually those making reviews and telling casuals how useless the buyable things are) surely will not struggle with the ressources available.
Regarding Riftcrystals... so far i only got bit more than 500... another thing that can be gotten for "real money"... although, so far there was not critical use for it because the game is not hard enough in order to justify "burning it". Those Riftcrystals only can be gotten as some rare Quest-rewards or if the pawn was traveling to a rift which happens rarely.
In general, the game is fair regarding the standard difficulty (which can not be adjusted) but... it can happen that some thinga go wrong.... for example some weird bugs where NPCs all of a sudden are attacking the player group and there is no way "deagro" them anymore... and naturally most gamers do not want all those NPCs dead just because they have been gone hostile and even if you run away.... they will stay hostile and attack you next time you meet them. So, in this case... the save is simply broken or bugged. It is important to quickly react if stuff like this go wrong and reload the game very quick. If not... it would mean many dead NPC and many "wasted Wakestones" for raising them... as hilarious as it sounds... this is simply gamemechanics somewhat going wrong... not sure if bugged or even on purpose.
Still, if the game is loaded quick at such unfortunate events... it can become prevented but gamers have to be aware of it... simply game mechanics and maybe some bugs.
One of the Ogres was falling down during fight toward the valley... which was somewhat funny because he was big enough in order to serve as a "living bridge". However... at some point he still was falling and then died because of fall damage. I got no items for this kill and the bugged Ogre kinda was lying down "theoretically dead" but not ultimately tagged as dead by the game. I was not reloading it because somehow i found it funny... but still, this was probably not intended.
In the beginning the game can be hard but, as soon as someone get the "hang of it" learning how to tune the characters properly... it is absolutely doable. The thing adding difficulty is mainly due to the somewhat limited or screwed mechanics which is only allowing one save and always need proper judgement of "should i reload, is everything working as intended"... this is the main thing that will need care.
What i do not like is how IGN is kinda "downsizing" the Microtransaction-issue... i will give you one example how it has been done by them (pretty hidden, have to watch it):
There is a quest called "Monster Culling" and in this quest there are several dead NPCs that would/should require a revive using valuable stones. On the Dragons Dogma-Wiki... they was bringing up the dead NPCs... but IGN on their own guide was not telling a single word about "dead NPCs"... which of course would raise the concerns Microtransactions would be able to bring up.
Wiki: Everything has been included.
https://dragonsdogma2.wiki.fextralife.com/Monster+Culling IGN... they act as "It never happened".
https://www.ign.com/wikis/dragons-dogma-2/Monster_Culling In general, it is well known, IGN was acting rather friendly toward those "unnecessary Microtransactions", which may give them a Capcom-bonus but rather not a player-bonus.
Just to say... yes this is a great game and i enjoy playing it. The exact gameplay type is hard to descibe as it is somewhat a mix of many RPG-genre but surely fun to play. I surely can recommend it releasing it on GoG someday if this will ever be possible... who knows. Although, sure... the game got many issues and some of those issues, apart from the things i already told... is involving the pretty bad performance... even on very good systems such as the PS5 or above...
Regarding the "bottle neck" of performance... both the CPU and GPU can become a bottleneck here. Although, it is MORE LIKELY that the GPU is the bottleneck.
For example, if someone is using a "top notch CPU", and the very best CPU for this game is currently the 7800 X3D, there is no other CPU faster at the current time. This CPU is able to provide a average of 80 FPS without troubles with some peak values above 120 FPS. i would say... although, if any other CPU is used it is most likely something in between 50 and 100 FPS that can be achieved. The "weakest CPU" able to play this game properly is the Ryzen 3700 X, which is the CPU used on the PS5. This CPU is able to achieve at least 50 FPS in most scenarios... if there is a PS5 Pro it could even be 55+ FPS which is surely not a issue and pretty fine. So, as long as the CPU is on the PS5 level and above... this is not a biggie. But... of course... it is IN GENERAL a hardware-destroyer at the current shape.
Examples on those videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT5p0zzR1YA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twEERkUyAXE Even more of a issue is still the GPU... a GPU at the PS5 level... which is comparable to a RX 6650... maybe close to RX 6700 (if we take some better optimizations into account) is basically able to provide at least 30 FPS (4k, medium settings) in a "good picture quality-mode".... there are some modes worse as that (1080P. low settings) which may give even better FPS with a GPU in this "performance category", although THOSE MODES will then most likely run into CPU issues if the CPU is weaker than a Ryzen 3700 X.
At native 4k... even a flagship GPU such as the 4090 will barely provide more than 60 FPS... and a "second tier GPU" such as the 3090 TI, 4080/4070 TI, 7900+ RX-series or comparable will most likely reach around 45+ FPS which is surely totally satisfying, but not "great". Not even the 4090 is great anymore... i would even suggest a 5090 which is of course not released yet... in order to overpower this badly optimized game.
This was simply the technical aspect... just as i said this is a great game with some cons and it can surely be played at 30 FPS too. Apart from the mediocre (but playble) performance and some bugs i never had any serious issues on PS5... no crashes or whatsoever.
Regarding my setup (can be seen on screens) i have a "tanker and attacker-setup", which basically means, my main character is currently a Mystic Spearhand (advanced Vocation only the Arisen can use), a mix between physical and magical-attack using double-bladed weapons. I got a skill for "lowering agro" (Thief skill)... so the enemies are less likely to attack me and i can go "all out with lesser risk" this way. My main pawn on the other hand is a tank... and got a skill able to increase agro using provoke. Of course the defense... as a Knight and using a shield is supreme and my main pawn can even throw me up toward the enemies back... if useful.. so a pretty cool combo in my mind. The NPC-pawns are usually filled up by at least one pawn able to make ranged attacks (usually Ranger or Attack-mage) and always some Mage able to give support... including healing. So far a very proven setup for me.
Besides, my starting vocation was "Thief" which i absolutely can recommend because it provided supreme evasion which can be helpful if stuff needs to be avoided and chars are simply to weak. I even was able to learn some special Thief skills at a certain village.
Some screens, have to use external host.. simply way huge for the outdated GoG forum. As i try to use the "original quality", in order to represent content in the best quality possible (a thing of honoring the creators).
https://ibb.co/KXJnwwY https://ibb.co/VJtMy2B https://ibb.co/58g7Ch0 https://ibb.co/XZj86gv https://ibb.co/thVbR26 https://ibb.co/HCJb6cN https://ibb.co/qnY3SZq https://ibb.co/XJqHZrJ