#DD:DA

[olessan]

ma'am

(Dragon's Dogma 2: Get to Know the Sphinx - IGN First)

[muffinpoop1]

Julien.jpg

[orinthered]

the 8k slowburn aelinore/mercedes fanfic in my mind

[thehappiestgolucky]

hey girl are you the eternal cycle because the land, skies and seas yearn for you~

i don’t you’re ruining my life please stop

[ladymissfit133]

Been thinking about Dragon's dogma and its reoccuring stories about women navigating a patriarchal society and how individual action will never succeed against systemic oppression. How even women of noble birth are stuck following the whims of the men in their lives. How Aelinore's romance is all about her grabbing on to the little bit of agency she has and holding on to it with all of her power, to get but a taste of freedom, only for her ultimately go from the oppression of her husband and back to that of her father. she's probably never been as happy as she was in those sewers, not having to think of how she appeared, who saw her or what she was doing. it was just her and the person she herself chose to love. as someone who's never been able to make her own decisions, just dealing with the consequences of the one decision she made for herself must've felt incredibly liberating. And in the end the system still takes her back. she can't truly escape, to fight against something so much stronger than herself.

And Mercedes. Naive and foolish Mercedes, who wanted nothing more than to be seen as a knight. A position she as a woman is simply not allowed to have. Her individual wishes goes against what the system could ever accomodate but she does not understand this. She does not know that she will never have what her brothers have. She thinks that the system will give her what she seeks should she work hard enough. but that is not how systemic oppression works. It will never bend for an individuals hard work. She is merely deluding herself thinking the men around her see her as an equal. But she never will be. They will never give her that chance, hell, even when she insists on taking a job the man overseeing her sends you to make sure she is unharmed. And in the end the system wins and the best she can hope for is the respect of two people to allow her an uninterrupted duel. But she's still a woman. And the system will not allow her that same respect. And then there's Madeleine. Flirtations and pragmatic Madeleine, wanting nothing more than her own shop, yet obtaining such a feat as a poor peddler is difficult and she is forced to resort to illegal means in order to reach it. Means her male peers likely would not need to. And despite her craftiness she is still found out and forced to leave her hard-earned successes behind.

time and time again Dragon's dogma gives us stories about how individualism can not win against systemic oppression, but together we can do something. None of these women can escape their situation - they simply do not have the means to do so on their own. These are the kinds of narratives that games seldom tackle, and yet Dragon's Dogma does it in a very honest and brutal way: an individual is powerless against the wider structures. on your own you are powerless. It's a game that should be talked about more for its feminist themes i think, because they are there and they are strong. and then there's Dragon's Dogma 2. DD2 takes the more gender-blind approach to its own world. Where gender doesn't really matter at all. I can understand this approach, and a lot of times i think it is a good approach: unless you have something to say you should just let people feel like they belong in your world. Women are plentiful in DD2, they hold positions of power and make up half its instututions. this should be the default approach. But it also means DD2 can not say anything important about the struggles of groups, only about individuals. Because no one is truly oppressed based on their identity anymore. And i think that is a genuine shame because the first game had a lot to say about it. (and yes, i know about the beastren, but they're a fantasy race and thus do not count)

[varilien]

song: selene by imagine dragons

baby crying noises i miss him so bad you don't get it <- can't even play the part of the game he's in because it MAKES ME SO SAD

[hircines-hunter]

[onethverse]

the dating sim element of this game was a great inclusion

[thecreedsmaxim]

are there any dragon's dogma fans out here bcuz im currently obsessed. i'm at lvl 97 and currently trying (and failing) to farm bitterblack and just killed the offline ur-dragon for the first time :3

[sonodaten]

WE ARE SO FUCKING BACK, BABY

[mysticmistral]

I’ve done it.

I have beat Dragons Dogma: Dark Arisen

Do I understand the ending? Yes’nt.

But honestly, I rate it 8.5/10. For the lack of multiple save files and how my progress in Bitterblack Isle was stopped cause the Void Key disappeared. Oh, and the Cockatrice, hate that thing. A good story, an alright character creator (probably very good for the year it was made), the combat and skills even if I wished the Pawns could be Magick Knights, Archers, Assassins, etc. It’s a wonderful world and a good, non cliche story. Tricks you into thinking you finally beat the game since you slayed the dragon but now the world is real messed up looking, the duke is old, and the main capital got eaten by an otherworldly sinkhole.

It’s such a bittersweet ending, but I’m really really glad my pawn didn’t have to suffer in the emptiness any longer. In my eyes, of course the main pawn wouldn’t care, but I sure did. I felt bad that they were dragged into the isolation too, away from the world. Loyal to a fault, there near every step of the way, left to wait until another Arisen takes our place. I was actually relieved I didn’t have to stab them with the Godsbane to free them, even if the sequence with us returning to the world was hard hitting. The MP really cares about their charge…. It’s a bit weird that my male pawn is now in my female form, but I hope they live a good life with Selene’s guidance on how to move on. He won’t be alone in his troubles. At least he’ll finally have access to the Magick Archer class.

I was Morrigan, a fisherman and Strider from the hamlet of Cassadris who stood up against the massive dragon, chosen to become an Arisen and beckoned to fulfill their destiny with the aid of their main pawn Silas who took the role of a Warrior or Fighter. Together they ventured all of Gransys, aiding others on their way to stop the worlds end.

Man sees the sea as the mother of all life, pawns only see it as water. Mayhaps it’s different now for Silas.

[olessan]

Disappointed that DD2 has no canonical male romance options? HELP FIX IT!

In Dragon's Dogma 2 you can choose almost any NPC to be your beloved/romance option, like in the first game. You can literally pick anyone, including random road guards, to shower gifts upon and raise their affinity.

However. Only two NPCs are canonical romances.

Ulrika and Wilhelmina, both human women, have unique romance quests and scenes that conclude intimately (without any platonic option). Those are the only NPCs in the entire game that have them.

No hate on the girls, they're among my arisen's best buds, but having them be the only two with fully fledged romance arcs in the entire game is a bit absurd.

Pre-release marketing highlighted Ulra, Wil, as well as Guard-Captain Brant, Prince Sven (who tbf seems pretty young), elven siblings Glyndwr and Doirieann, and Empress Nadinia of Battahl and her Guard-captain Menella (who I assumed were a couple). Any of those characters should also have had unique scenes like Wil and Ulra, but they don't. That effectively makes Ulra/Wil the canonical options.

None of the npcs care about the arisen's gender. The main issue is that there are no male options with equivalent romance quest. There's nothing but crumbs for the guy enjoyers, which is somehow a step back from the first game where there was at least Julian.

There are three dudes who would have been strong candidates according to their plot importance:

Brant is the arisen's first and most important ally in Vernworth,

Sven could have been DD2's Aelinore (young noble in need of help) and could've caused loads of plot drama,

and Glyndwr is your introduction to the elf culture through his curiosity.

Do they get unique quests beyond their initial ones? Nope.

Anyway, we can potentially influence some getting added officially instead of as mods:

Capcom has released a player feedback survey.

The survey has questions on what you like, dislike, and would like to see in future content updates. It runs until April 21 and may well influence the future additions to the game.

I laid it on thick about them adding more quests and romance quests, and also about a Bitterblack Isle-type expansion.The more people that bring it up these issues the better.

Go forth, arisen <3

[jestergirlbosom]

O by the way dragon's dogma 2 good 👍

[vounoura]

the question is do I play stacked muscle mommy or actual rat character again in DD2

[thehappiestgolucky]

bitterblack isle will always be real for this actually

[ladymissfit133]

I sometimes wonder what Aelinore and Mercedes think of each other. On the one hand we have Mercedes, a noblewoman daring to stand against the expectations and demands put on her as a noblewoman. The pressure to become a wife and babymaker seemingly failing to have an impact. And on the other hand Aelinore, the very thing Mercedes is rejecting.

It's curious to me that they never seem to have interacted. If they had, Aelinore no doubt would've reacted the way she does with the arisen. Possibly more intensly. I can only surmise that Mercedes avoided her.

I wonder if Aelinore makes Mercedes uncomfortable. She's like the ideal noblewoman, the very thing Mercedes seems to want to avoid becoming. She sees her own failures in Aelinore. Aelinore is her should she fail to be a proper knight, something she's ultimately proven unable to become.