Characters are so unpersonal

[Sekhmet]

Is it just me or does it feel like the characters in this game are so... faceless... so meaningless... so unpersonal? I've only played for 3 hrs so far but I have no connection to my main character nor the characters in my troop so far. It feels like they don't interact with the world around them, if you know what I mean.

Will it get better over time or does this game just has a poor character writing? I feel like betrayed by the game reviews. :(

[Bosli]

Pawns do learn habits like in the first game (looting, prefer help over attack or vv, comments on surroundings, quests and what they did with other players) and there is a good amount of context interactions like catching you when you fall or giving highfive / fistbump after a good fight. Other than that, they are not really supposed to be regular NPCs like other games create companions, they don't get an actual personality or personal story/quest. Part of that is also that the game expects you to swap out hired pawns often because their levels are static when you hire them.

[Sekhmet]

I mean for example there is no real scene when I talk to others. Also while talking to npcs most of the time the camera movement is super weird so my char will stay anywhere outside of the range of the camera/scene so the npc will talk to thin air, lol. Also my char won't look the npcs I'm talking to in the eyes for most of the time. It's just a straight look. For most of the time I also don't have any options within dialogues. This for example makes my character feel like just another random npc without any personality.

[fox]

I hate cutscenes every 5 seconds.

[Sekhmet]

I wouldn't call them "cutscenes" since they don't reach the quality of "real" ingame cutscenes. They're just scenes.

[Cat]

The Arisen won't really have much of a defining character, outside of what the story demands of you. Story was never Dragon's Dogma strong suit and this time is no different, but it is slightly better than the first game which was in some regards just a collection of random scenes and things happening to have a plot at all.

Your pawns are lifeless husks because that's what they are, a pawn developing a personality of their own outside of their servant status would be a very rare sight, but not unheard of. The Pawns serve the Arisen but are not of their world, their job is only to help the Arisen along their journey, if the world burns around them, what does a pawn care?

[Sekhmet]

So just s*htty character writing. I see.

[Cat]

Blame self inserts for that I suppose, the Arisen can't have a personality since they are a blank slate, meant to allow you to insert yourself into. The pawns being lifeless plays into the lore of the overall game setting, so that is less of an issue of writing and more to do with what they wanted pawns to be. Your main pawn is literally made from your imagination after all, it's not a real person and is why most people don't treat pawns as such.

[Druark]

Originally posted by Sunricer:

Blame self inserts for that I suppose, the Arisen can't have a personality since they are a blank slate, meant to allow you to insert yourself into. The pawns being lifeless plays into the lore of the overall game setting, so that is less of an issue of writing and more to do with what they wanted pawns to be. Your main pawn is literally made from your imagination after all, it's not a real person and is why most people don't treat pawns as such.

This just isnt true. You can have blank slates which still have character to them. E.g. In Baldurs Gate, you follow a relatively set path but its your character on it.

[Cat]

Yes, you can, but most of the time you won't. Blank slates are mostly used to just let the player do with it as they want. The Arisen is mute outside of grunting for a reason. Despite clearly being treated as if they have a voice. I'm not throwing the entire blank slate idea under the bus here, just that the most commonly used version of it is basically having 0 character so you can invent it yourself.

[Sekhmet]

This reminds me of the Starfield discussion. So starfield marketing tried to make players believe that the plantes are lifeless because thats what planets are in real life lol. Just another excuse for bad game development.

[UnholyDentist]

I think pawns are purposefully robotic minded husks without much personality, actually they seem to have less character than irl dogs or other pets. They are supposed to learn and develop a personality during the adventure, but how far they get... Not far in DD1, not sure about DD2 yet (I am waiting for patches and fixing mods).

[DarkStarClassic]

Level 0 profile Nuffsaid!

[Kurague]

Originally posted by Don'tHurryBeHappy:

Is it just me or does it feel like the characters in this game are so... faceless... so meaningless... so unpersonal? I've only played for 3 hrs so far but I have no connection to my main character nor the characters in my troop so far. It feels like they don't interact with the world around them, if you know what I mean.

Will it get better over time or does this game just has a poor character writing? I feel like betrayed by the game reviews. :(

Dragon's dogma is just like Link in Legend of Zelda games. The character doens't talk directly because it's supposed to be a sort of "self-insert". Sometimes characters just ask a question to you, and even if you don't get to answer them, the NPC will do as if it was answered, that is because you're supposed to be "in the shoes", so "you" answered the character.

Pawns are purposefully limited. They are, as described by Dragon's Dogma 1 and 2, Will-less tools, but as an Arisen picks them up ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶r̶o̶w̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶m̶ ̶o̶f̶f̶ ̶a̶ ̶c̶l̶i̶f̶f̶ and adventures with them, they learn and they get personalities, becoming "a bit more human".

Just think the Dark Souls Firekeepers and Elden Ring's Melina, they are, literally, built like pawns in DD.

[Treuwu]

Originally posted by Don'tHurryBeHappy:

This reminds me of the Starfield discussion. So starfield marketing tried to make players believe that the plantes are lifeless because thats what planets are in real life lol. Just another excuse for bad game development.

Not exactly. Its more like writing a mideval version of a robot. They only posess the personality and knowledge imparted to them by their Player owner (Creator technically in universe). This games story is a little more on the side of dark souls where you can read descriptions of things and piece together lore from that.

Eg. in the first game LOTS of hints were there that pawns WERE PEOPLE and simply bound by "Nature" to do what the arisen needs, hence how some pawns break away and create their own personality- they didnt create anything, it was there already it was just suppressed by their "Nature" to serve and only when pushed to a breaking point do they rarely go against their nature.

[Sekhmet]

Originally posted by Kurague:

Originally posted by Don'tHurryBeHappy:

Is it just me or does it feel like the characters in this game are so... faceless... so meaningless... so unpersonal? I've only played for 3 hrs so far but I have no connection to my main character nor the characters in my troop so far. It feels like they don't interact with the world around them, if you know what I mean.

Will it get better over time or does this game just has a poor character writing? I feel like betrayed by the game reviews. :(

Dragon's dogma is just like Link in Legend of Zelda games. The character doens't talk directly because it's supposed to be a sort of "self-insert". Sometimes characters just ask a question to you, and even if you don't get to answer them, the NPC will do as if it was answered, that is because you're supposed to be "in the shoes", so "you" answered the character.

Pawns are purposefully limited. They are, as described by Dragon's Dogma 1 and 2, Will-less tools, but as an Arisen picks them up ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶r̶o̶w̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶m̶ ̶o̶f̶f̶ ̶a̶ ̶c̶l̶i̶f̶f̶ and adventures with them, they learn and they get personalities, becoming "a bit more human".

Just think the Dark Souls Firekeepers and Elden Ring's Melina, they are, literally, built like pawns in DD.

This "in the shoes" would make sense if I, as a player, would be able to choose my answer. I guess the game just doesn't care about character creation. It wants to be more of an action rpg.