Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen Storming Shelves This April Plus: Why...







Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen Storming Shelves This April

Plus: Why the Hell Isn’t it DLC?.

Unable to exist as separate DLC, Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen is actually a full-on retail disc (and digital download) releasing April 23rd (26th in Europe) which will include both the entirety of the original game and its expanded content at a discounted price of $39.99.  Reverse your frown – we’ll get to why in a tic.

Dark Arisen is equipped with a massive amount of new content, big and small; the biggest of which being the journey you’ll take to Bitterblack Isle and the underground realm lying beneath filled wall to wall with both insurmountable treasure and a Tolkien book’s worth of creatures bent on turning your party into a screaming lunch.  The fight isn’t one-sided, though, as players can now access over 100 new items, more weapons and armors, augmentations, and a brand new tier of character skills to add some tasteful hack to your slash.

More is better, but there’s more to it than that.  Several improvements to the game’s design are being implemented such as a reworked menu system and better fast travel (thankfully).  Already plugged away a shitload of hours into Dragon’s Dogma?  Your character(s) save file can not only be imported, but will also be updated with Dark Arisen’s tech fixes.  How convenient!

A helluva lot less convenient is having to re-purchase the game, as my original copy is outmoded a la Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3Dark Arisen would have made significantly more sense logically and financially as a downloadable expansion.  And Capcom agrees, at least according to Senior VP and Expert Apologist Chris Svensson.

“It would have been a preferred option from our standpoint, too,” explained Svenny.  “But unfortunately there were major technical limitations that couldn’t allow for a digital upgrade path."  Basically, Dragon’s Dogma – an untested IP that I’m confident outperformed the company’s expectations – just wasn’t designed with the proper coding "hooks” to allow for a huge expansion (…allegedly).

Early adopters can look forward to a gift bag of in-game treats, however.  Your old DD save files will grant you 100,000 Rift Stones, the Gransys Armor Pack, and – wait for it – unlimited Ferrystones.  Svensson hopes this to be a “sufficient ‘thank you’” for the game’s supporters.  So, no room to bitch, right?  Ha.  Right.


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