The criticism of this emptiness permeated in reviews, like Jordan Sims of Medium, who says, “ Dragon’s Dogma is an empty game. Where the world of Skyrim is overflowing with cities, villages, dungeons, bandit camps, and all manner of landmarks, Dragon’s Dogma’s world of Gransys is tragically, but importantly, pretty empty. However, the most impactful difference isn’t the most immediately noticeable. The third and fourth members of the player’s party are comprised of other players’ created pawns that appear in a lobby of sorts called “The Rift.” In this way, an overwhelmingly single player experience is given a communal aspect. After creating your character (“The Arisen”), you create a “pawn” to join alongside your adventures. Another difference was the presence of a party.

The combat was more action-oriented, a byproduct of Itsuno’s work on the Devil May Cry series and Capcom’s aforementioned desire to create a new branch of the action-RPG genre. First, it featured much deeper combat mechanics than Skyrim, allowing for development through “vocations” (character classes). We’re trying to make a new genre: We’re using our action heritage and putting that into an action RPG.Ĭomparisons to the Elder Scrolls notwithstanding, Dragon’s Dogma differed in some important ways. Skyrim has had a big influence on the RPG genre, but we’re trying to do the same thing.At Capcom, we’ve made Dragon’s Dogma and come up to this point through our experience of action games. Director Hideaki Itsuno, in a March 2012 interview, praised Skyrim’s impact, while expounding Capcom’s hopes for Dragon’s Dogma: However, the similarity was 100% intentional, but not because Capcom intended to make a Skyrim clone. In Skyrim, you are the Dragonborn in Dragon’s Dogma, you are the Arisen. Hero infused with power from said dragons? Check. Six months following Skyrim, Capcom released Dragon’s Dogma -an action, role-playing game that, let’s face it, looked a whole lot like Skyrim on the surface. RELATED: 'The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim' Is Getting an Anniversary Re-Release - and Now, You Can Actually Fish

Even a game as established (and subsequently beloved) as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (which came out two years later) was branded by the developers with a “ Skyrim in a Game of Thrones sauce” tag.

Whether in support of Bethesda’s sprawling epic, or in defiance to it, every game that was released that shared any kind of thematic or mechanic elements was placed under the Skyrim microscope. When it was arrived, it brought with it the barometer on which all open world, medieval fantasy games would be measured.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim arrived in November, 2011.

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