“Dragon’s Dogma II” is a beautiful game, but that’s the best I can say. The world was given a lot of love and attention. It’s well-planned, with a map of meticulously interwoven paths and locales. Unfortunately, the world comes across as a little dreary with a muted color palette. 

This game is also dull. Here’s how the entire adventure goes: Get a quest, decipher where you’re supposed to go, travel there at a snail’s pace while stopping 10-15 times along the way to fight the same groups of monsters, talk to someone and maybe fight a bigger monster that can take 10 minutes or longer to kill if you’re not prepared—which you’re usually not. Then, walk back to the person who gave you the quest in the first place. It’s tedious and painful. “Skyrim” did it 10 times better more than a decade ago. 

There are a variety of classes you can switch between to vary the combat. Still, by the time you’ve figured out how one works for you, it’s annoying to change and alter the composition of your entire party, which is already in constant flux due to the interesting but often disappointing pawns/party members.  

“Dragon’s Dogma II” is designed for players to get lost and explore the world, but you get punished for doing so. Many quests don’t tell you where to go. You’re supposed to figure it out by exploring, but the hints are often misleading, and aimlessly wandering is no fun. One truly shocking aspect of this game is the rarity of fast travel. It’s so infrequent that the developers expect players to pay real money for additional items needed to fast travel in a $70+ game. 

I might have been able to look past these issues if the story was remarkable. I waited for the game to blow me away, but it never happened. For example, when a castle rose from the sea, I thought it would be an exciting area to explore, but it was only there to talk to one NPC inside. There aren’t even any enemies. It’s a waste. 

I’m disappointed. Compared to other fantasy RPGs that are immersive and a thrill to explore, “Dragon’s Dogma II” misses the mark despite being capable of something incredible.