Capcom’s latest action role-playing game, Dragon’s Dogma 2, has received “Mostly Negative” review on Steam for its use of microtransactions as well as performance issues.
As a result of there being microtransactions for performing fast travel, resurrection, and using the character editor in Dragon’s Dogma 2, the game has received over 14,000 “Mostly Negative” reviews as of writing. It doesn’t help that the game also suffers from performance and stability issues at launch.
The player base has made it clear that such heavy use of microtransactions is unacceptable in a single-player title. However, we feel that some of the negativity surrounding the game is unwarranted. While microtransactions do exist in the game, they are entirely optional. Apart from the item required for the character editor, every other item is easy to obtain through gameplay. For example, wakestones, which are used for resurrection, can be obtained by simply moving about the game world alongside pawns. Additionally, port crystals are scattered throughout the game, and they also respawn when you begin a fresh playthrough in New Game+, giving you the opportunity to create a surplus amount of fast travel points.
Those who prefer to take a shortcut can absolutely pay up and purchase port crystals for the price of $2.99 and wakestones for $0.99, though it is worth stressing that this is entirely optional. It’s no different from various colored orbs, which can easily be obtained via gameplay, being available for purchase in Devil May Cry 5. That said, the practice is a bit questionable, as some may end up buying these items out of confusion regarding the ease of their availability in-game, Additionally, while purely cosmetic, the the use of microtransactions for the editor makes it difficult to freely customize the appearance of your character.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 is now available for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows platforms.