Capcom responds to negative reception of Dragon’s Dogma 2’s PC port

By Tomas Franzese March 22, 2024

A beastren in Dragon's Dogma 2. — Capcom

Dragon’s Dogma 2 launched today, and while it had a warm critical reception, players are having a lot of problems with its PC port in particular. Currently, it has an overwhelmingly negative user score on Steam, with over 13,000 reviews as of the writing. Capcom has addressed common criticism of the game in the hopes of quelling the frustration of PC players.

Players are a bit peeved at the inclusion of microtransactions in all versions of the game, as well as the fact that it uses Denuvo anti-cheat software that’s known to impact game performance. I already found the game to be poorly optimized on Xbox Series X/S, but the issues get even worse on PC. For a game that already has demanding minimum required PC specs, performance still isn’t good for a lot of players, with frame rate drops, crashes, and freezing happening often. Players have had to find odd ways to improve the frame rate by doing things like murdering NPCs.

“A large amount of CPU usage is allocated to each character and calculating the impact of their physical presence in various areas. In certain situations where numerous characters appear simultaneously, the CPU usage can be very high and may affect the frame rate,” Capcom admits. “We are aware that in such situations, settings that reduce GPU load may currently have a limited effect; however, we are looking into ways to improve performance in the future.”

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is an impressively ambitious game full of dynamic NPCs and enemies that act of their own volition. Clearly, that’s a bit too much for some CPUs to handle. Capcom also highlighted all of the items that can be purchased with microtransactions and pointed out that there are ways to obtain all those items in the game. Finally, it says that it plans to fix bugs and other issues causing game crashes and freezing in the “near future,” in addition to adding the ability to restart your game save.

If you’re planning on picking up Dragon’s Dogma 2, it seems like it may be best to avoid the PC version for now. Capcom’s latest is also available for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Topics

Gaming Staff Writer

Tomas Franzese is a Staff Writer at Digital Trends, where he reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…

Gaming

The best item recipes in Dragon’s Dogma 2

Believe it or not, your Arisen in Dragon's Dogma 2 is very skilled at crafting. We're not talking about building structures, tools, or weapons, but item crafting. By combining specific pairs of ingredients in your inventory, you can produce some extremely potent consumables. As you will discover for yourself on your first long trip across the land, there are a ton of materials to discover, leading to hundreds or thousands of possible combinations. Knowing what items are best saved to make something special can save you from having to scour the world looking for more or struggling without it. Here are the best recipes that not even the best pawns will tell you about.
Best item recipes

Salburious Drought
This green liquid will be your most common healing item in Dragon's Dogma 2 and also the item you will probably craft first. It probably has the most possible combinations of ingredients to make and will always be a more effective way to get the most healing out of any individual ingredients. If you have a Greenwarish and combine it with almost any fruit, you can whip this tonic up.
Detoxifying Decoction
Status effects are no joke in Dragon's Dogma 2. If you get poisoned, it isn't going away until you cure it or rest at an in or camp. And that's if you have enough healing items to keep yourself alive long enough to make it there. Detoxifying Decoctions will cure what ails you and keep you adventuring instead of scrambling to get back to town. An easy way to make it is by combining Pitywort and Syrupwort leaves.
Exquisite Dried Spud
Stamina regenerates naturally, so you may not think an item that replenishes it would be all that important. Ask yourself that when you're clinging to the back of a Griffen 100 feet above the ground and your grip is slipping. Pop an Exquisite Dried Spud to keep climbing or running in those touchy moments. Just smash two Ripened Princess Harspuds together to make it.
Mighty Robrant
For a more flavorful and alternative healing item, the Mighty Robrant will be able to take you from close to death to full HP for the majority of the game. This is a second-level item made by first crafting a Fruit Robrant and then combining that with Cinnamon Bark.
Miracle Robrant
The ultimate consumable that you can make is the Miracle Robrant. This will heal a massive amount of HP and refill your stamina all in one. These take a bit more work to get, so save them for emergencies. Make one with any Fine Robrant and a Saurian's Tail.
Bunch of Flowers
Finally, make a nice gift for someone with a Bunch of Flowers to earn some favor. You can give gifts to almost any important character in the game, and while not all will like flowers, a good deal will, and they're free to make. We craft ours out of Sunbloom and Noonblooms, but most flower combinations will do the job.

Gaming

All sphinx riddle solutions in Dragon’s Dogma 2

A sphinx in Dragon's Dogma 2.

Dragon's Dogma 2 is full of mythological monsters and beasts. During your travels, you will encounter many classics like Cyclopses, Griffins, and Dragons, but a more obscure creature is hidden away in a cave waiting to challenge you in a different way. The Sphinx is found in the Mountain Shrine at the top of the hill once you go through Wordlsend Cave. It won't attack you when you approach, but instead, it will challenge you to a test of intellect. There are a total of 10 riddles to be solved, with a reward given for each one you manage to crack. Dragon's Dogma 2 never holds your hand with anything, so we'll help you unravel these riddles.
First five riddle solutions

The first half of the riddles are given at the location mentioned above. Once you solve this first batch, the Sphinx will move, and you will need to find it again to continue. Here are the first five riddles, their solutions, and rewards.
Riddle of the Eyes
“Our eyes are our allies, yet oft do they betray, for eyes tell lies, so I advise, and thence do lead astray. Yet how will your eyes advise you? Venture through yonder door and retrieve that which is of greatest value.“

Gaming

This Philippines-inspired indie helped me connect to my cultural roots

Mark Borja on crowded train in morning

I first learned about Until Then from a Southeast Asian developer I met at PAX East. We’d been talking about the game he worked on, A Space for the Unbound, and I brought up that I was Filipino. I'd enjoyed the cultural setting of that Indonesian adventure game, even if it wasn’t something I could completely understand as an outsider. I yearned for a similar experience where I could call out the references I knew as a Filipino-American. So he told me about Until Then.

Until Then, a narrative-rich, cinematic game based on Metro Manila, filled that need with a setting I often visited in my youth. Polychroma Games based it on the developers' experiences growing up in the Philippines, and additional inspirations like Night in the Woods and Your Lie in April. I never got to sit at long wooden tables in a high school classroom, don uniforms with neckties or long skirts, and participate in other uniquely Filipino experiences as a tourist. Despite that, I appreciated Until Then for bringing back old memories and even teaching me more about Filipino culture in a way I didn’t expect.