Dragon's Dogma 2 Has Taught Me I Don't Care Enough About ...

2024 will soon bless us with yet another masterful RPG in the form of Dragon’s Dogma 2. I played a few hours of Capcom’s chaotic sequel last month and came away smitten with its mixture of epic monster battles and freeform exploration, even if I spent the entire preview getting lost amidst the wilds and throwing my enemies off cliffs. The fact I will soon take on quests and make my mark on this world that extends beyond my own random mischief has me so excited, even if I’ll be forced to play it at 30 frames per second on console.

Speaking to Game Informer, director Hideaki Itsuno finally cleared up a bunch of questions fans have had about performance on PS5 and Xbox, with fears that it’d either run terribly or not reach the desired benchmarks for an action RPG where player movement and reflexes are paramount. Here’s what he had to say (shortly after also tweeting about performance of Dragon’s Dogma 2), and precisely what the development team are aiming for:

"The game has an uncapped framerate," Itsuno said. "We're aiming to go at around or higher than 30 FPS. That is for consoles as well. There are some functions that you can turn on and off, but there aren't multiple sets of options that you can change at once. But yeah, the frame rate will come uncapped for all consoles."

Does Dragon’s Dogma 2 Have Performance And Fidelity Modes?

So, Dragon’s Dogma 2 will feature an uncapped framerate with none of the ‘fidelity’ or ‘performance’ presets we’ve grown accustomed to in other triple-A games. Anyone hoping for consistent performance throughout the entire experience will probably be better off playing on PC.

While I understand the disappointment fans are feeling about this announcement, after hours spent playing the game on retail hardware, I can’t say it’s a dealbreaker for me. Even amid enemy encounters featuring two screen-filling monsters, I seldom noticed a dip in the quality and performance of visuals, and didn’t have much trouble pulling off the required abilities or movements either. I was a nimble, capable warrior who could slay monsters… and make many mistakes, but none of these were down to the game failing to keep up. If anything, I’ll have a bigger issue with the presence of only a single save file, but that’s a debate for another day.

Players are mostly worried about both inconsistent performance and frame pacing, and the latter has proven to be an unpleasant blight on frame rate and image quality in beloved titles like Bloodborne. Which, to this day, aside from user-created mods, hasn’t been fixed. Back then it was an unfortunate reality of the PS4 hardware unable to push beyond its limits, but that feels like less of an excuse for Dragon’s Dogma 2, especially when other titles running on the RE Engine like Resident Evil 4 and Devil May Cry 5 can hit such benchmarks easily.

Will Dragon’s Dogma 2 Frame Pacing Problems Be A Dealbreaker?

Dragon’s Dogma 2 presents a seamless open world with far more complicated combat and exploration, though, and I have to imagine conversations were had during development about whether performance and fidelity modes were possible, and in realising otherwise, it was decided to stick with a single variable. It’s old-fashioned, but I can’t say I’m bothered by it when my history with such things has always proven lenient.

Take Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, which shipped with a 30 frames per second fidelity mode and a performance mode which aims much higher. The cost of more frames is drastically inferior visuals, to the point where its open world and cinematic sequences are reduced to such an extent that their intended impact is lost. It just isn’t worth the compromise, especially with a game where combat can be as mediated or challenging as you want it to be. Some players obviously prefer superior performance, but I’ve always put graphical splendour above that.

Sony exclusives like God of War Ragnarok and Horizon Forbidden West are also meeting us in the middle with variable refresh rate modes that still maintain 4K image quality, but ensure performance reaches 40 frames per second with the help of certain displays. It might only be 10 frames, but in moment-to-moment action, such an increase is significant. Enough for me at the very least, as a console gamer who hasn’t been spoiled by the performance majesty of the PC where I imagine the majority of these complaints are coming from.

But maybe I should care, or I haven’t seen the light of superior hardware where limitations in performance and visuals aren’t something you need to think about. I won’t make up my mind until Dragon’s Dogma 2 is in my hands and I’ve spent dozens of hours with it, and if its frame rate and image quality stick in my mind as constant annoyances, or sink into the background as I grow used to its forgivable inconsistencies.

That’s how things have happened before, as there is a big difference between games that perform and look terrible, and those that abide by a specific target in order to make the experience more palatable. Like Rebirth, Ragnarok, and Horizon Forbidden West before it, Dragon’s Dogma 2 seems to embrace the latter.

I’ll admit that communication about its technical shortcomings has been less than ideal, but as the dust settles and I pierce yet another monster with my blade, performance will be the last thing on my mind.

Dragon's Dogma 2

Dragon's Dogma is the long-anticipated sequel to Capcom's action RPG. Once again taking on the role of the Arisen, the game promises full customisation in how you create your character and play through your story.