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GAMING FEATURE

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A familiar beat When we asked Hideaki Itsuno what his first ever gaming experience was, we received the same response that we have from several developers. Like so many of us, it all started with Taito’s Space Invaders .

A sequel that’s been keenly awaited for more than a decade by its very loyal fanbase, Capcom’s Dragon’s Dogma 2 returns us to a deep, action RPG fantasy world.We posed some questions to the game’s director, Hideaki Itsuno, and he was kind enough to answer them. Words Amy Flower

How have large advances in AI in recent years helped with the realism of NPCs, such as the Arisen’s Pawns? Unlike recent generative AI, this title aims to strengthen behavioural AI. As a result, NPCs each act with their own ‘motivation’, and each monster is given a sense of reality, such as the way they cooperate in groups and their habits, if they were living in that world. Did any other games or series provide any inspiration while creating Dragon’s Dogma 2 ? Not only this title, but all of Capcom's titles are the result of the company's experience in game development. Although we have no particular title in mind, Dragon's Dogma 2 makes particularly strong use of the creators' know-how from their previous title, Devil May Cry 5 . Do you please have any favourite hints or tips that you can offer to new or returning Dragon’s Dogma players for this sequel? As has been the concept since the first game, any one of these three is sufficient to complete the game: improve your action skills, spend time playing to gain experience and money, and stock up on knowledge of enemy weaknesses and affinities. If you’re not particularly good at action, it’s recommended that you start playing with a rearguard type job such as a mage or archer. What do you most wish for players to gain from their playing of Dragon’s Dogma 2 ? We have worked hard to create a world where players can have satisfying reactions to what the player wants to do, so you can feel as if you've been reincarnated into this world and enjoy roleplaying as Arisen.

• Dragon’s Dogma 2 is out now

How did you approach developing a sequel to Dragon’s Dogma after more than a decade, and did you pay any attention to wish lists from the game’s fans? We developed the concept of the first game in the early stages of planning, based on the responses to a survey of various users around the world and the feedback we had received up to that point. We kept the main concept that was supported by the first game but made changes to the map size and other areas that received a lot of feedback. At the same time, we wanted to incorporate everything that we wanted to do back then but couldn't, due to technical problems, by using modern Capcom technology. Can you please tell us of more of these features that you could now achieve with current technology? I think the Beastren is a

In what ways does the gameplay of Dragon’s Dogma 2 differ from that of the original? As mentioned, the main concept is the same, but the world is larger and more densely packed with experiences than in the first game, so I hope you will enjoy your own adventure as Arisen. With new technology for you to play with such as SSD storage and improved haptics, how do these enhance the Dragon’s Dogma 2 experience for players?

good example. We wanted to incorporate them in the last game and now, with the power of hardware, we were finally able to make it happen. You can fine tune it in the character creator, please try it at once!

DYK?

Hardware improvements have made the field seamlessly connected, and you can now recover stamina and use skills by standing on monsters. That means you can stand on top of a flying monster and keep recovering your stamina...

The first Capcom arcade game was 1984’s vertically scrolling shooter Vulgus . It also marked the first appearance of the soon-to-be-familiar ‘POW’ icon, which we’d see in future hits including 1942 , Gun.Smoke , and Black Tiger .

46 APRIL 2024

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