History YMMV / DragonsDogma

** Considering [[spoiler:Savan]] is a PhysicalGod that defeated a PhysicalGod when he was still only a BadassNormal and is supposed to be the most powerful entity encountered in the game, he should be at least somewhat challenging. He is weaker than many of the mooks in the game and, by the time most players would fight him, he will drop in a couple of hits with any weapon. His damage is also extremely low, so there is very little chance of him actually killing you either, unless you deliberately waited for him to land a OneHitKill for a particular ending. [[spoiler:For what it's worth though, he ''wants'' to be defetated and die, so that he may no longer be Seneschal.]]

* DisappointingLastLevel: The Everfall, while impressive at first glance, is unfortunately this. It is bothersome to get to specific Chambers by falling (as most of the entrances look fairly identical) - though you can take the stairs - and when you do, the environment is rather repetitive, combined with locked doors to, the quest to fetch 20 Wakestones while dealing with powerful [[DemonicSpiders enemies]] and rare [[ThatOneBoss bosses]].

** The Magick Archer has a couple of crazy powerful abilities: the ricochet arrow and the anti-StatusEffects aura. In the many tight quarters of Bitterblack Isle, having an arrow that does more damage the more it bounces around can drop even powerful enemies very quickly. And the magic aura stops every single debuff in the game, ''including drenched''. In the various dark and watery dungeons, not having to put away and reequip your lantern in mid combat is a huge boon.

*** Pawns may shout "No! They hold the advantage!" whenever your party is suddenly taking a lot of damage. It works at times when there's proper context (such as when being ganged on by a mob or a powerful foe), but it may also be anti-climactically said when you got damaged by unexpected means, such as rolling boulders or falling from a great height during an ongoing battle.

** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqzGOm9wmn0 They're masterworks all, you can't go wrong.]]"

** Just about everything that comes out of a Pawn's mouth.

* SelfImposedChallenge: Despite the general NintendoHard challenge and difficulty of the game, players have still came up with these. "No Pawns" is the most frequent one, but it can also include [[CripplingOverSpecialization no class switching]], and going to [[BonusDungeon Bitterblack Isle]] as soon as you can. Not to mention [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DKz46Xb9RQ&list=PLPpgEXhxLRZi3uQX3r4SRjIcXgZYmFDzU&index=5 the poor souls that try all three at once.]]

* DifficultySpike: The entirety of Bitterblack Isle is this. A lot of the common {{Mooks}} inside can straight up one shot you if you are low level, not to mention the randomly spawning DemonicSpiders that can happen. Not only that but the deeper you go into the Isle, the tougher the enemies become, making it a struggle even with Dragonforged gear and [[InfinityMinusOneSword Dragon weapons]]. Not to mention that ''[[TheGrimReaper Death himself]]'' can randomly appear and instantly kill your party as well.

** The optional area Bitterblack Isle gets simply called "BBI" by players. Items or content that can be obtained there are also affixed with that acronym, leading to other sub-nicknames such as "BBI weapons" or "BBI gear".

* FanNickname: Some have taken to calling Grigori 'Greg.' It certainly makes him less intimidating.

* DifficultySpike: The entirety of Bitterblack Isle is this. A lot of the common {{Mooks}} inside can straight up one shot you if you are low level, not to mention the randomly spawning DemonicSpiders that can happen. Not only that but the deeper you go into the Isle, the tougher the enemies become, making it a struggle even with Dragonforged gear and [[InifnityMinusOneSword Dragon weapons]]. Not to mention that ''[[TheGrimReaper Death himself]]'' can randomly appear and instantly kill your party as well.

* ThatOneAchievement: "The Hero", which requires you to complete ''every single'' non-Notice Board sidequest. Quite a few of these quests are both hard to find and [[GuideDangIt even harder to solve]] without consulting the wiki. At least any completed quests carry on to NewGamePlus.

* VindicatedByHistory: The game sold very poorly in the West around its original release, but thanks to word of mouth, it got popular enough to warrant a PC version, which went on to become Capcom's best selling PC title up to the release of ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterWorld'', and then eventually further re-releases on [=PlayStation=] 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.

* AnticlimaxBoss: Considering [[spoiler:Savan]] is a PhysicalGod that defeated a PhysicalGod when he was still only a BadassNormal and is supposed to be the most powerful entity encountered in the game, he should be at least somewhat challenging. He is weaker than many of the mooks in the game and, by the time most players would fight him, he will drop in a couple of hits with any weapon. His damage is also extremely low, so there is very little chance of him actually killing you either, unless you deliberately waited for him to land a OneHitKill for a particular ending. [[spoiler:For what it's worth though, he ''wants'' to be defetated and die, so that he may no longer be Seneschal.]]

* SoOkayItsAverage: The overall reaction to the anime from casual viewers as it takes many notes from modern DarkFantasy anime shows (most notably ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' and ''LightNovel/GoblinSlayer'') but doesn't use the more original aspects of the game's setting and lore, making the final product feel very unoriginal (if watchable).

* TierInducedScrappy: Warrior Pawns are the least-recruited Pawns due to the vocation's slow movement/attack speed and lack of ranged options, combined with the nature of the Pawn AI making their attacks miss much more often (compared to Pawns of other vocations, who are more accurate than most human players).
** While Warrior is extremely fun to play, they tend to struggle and are sub-optimal compared to other classes. They have three skill slots, no block, no dodge, no ranged attacks, and no fast attacks outside of their air swipes. Their main source of damage is the devastating Arc of Deliverance/Obliteration, but where other classes either dish out tons of single target damage quickly or charge up for devastating area-of-effect damage, the Warrior gets the worst of both worlds- the Arc does a ton of single target damage but takes a huge amount of time to charge up and vice versa. Their climb attacks also suck, meaning disabling foes is entirely done through landing an Arc. Even with all this said, Warriors are still a blast to play, and there's no "bad" class option.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Rook, the first pawn you get in the game, is surprisingly popular. Even though he can never level up, people like him so much that they put him on their favorites list for Pawns and even recreate Rook with their actual Pawn. Some never even remove him from their party, which makes him a useless dead weight on the party very quickly since hired pawns can't level up (but also may give a great boost to the player's leveling late in the game due to how the game's experience system works).

** The PC port of ''Dark Arisen'' has become [[http://attackofthefanboy.com/news/dragons-dogma-dark-arisen-becomes-fastest-selling-capcom-pc-game/ Capcom's fastest selling PC title]], and one of their best-selling on the platform.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Duke Edmun. [[spoiler:Did he take the Dragon's deal to sacrifice his beloved in exchange for power because he was afraid that the Dragon was truly undefeatable (as he suggests when he confronts the Arisen after the Dragon is slain), or did he take the deal for the sake of gaining power? Was his mania following his RapidAging post-Dragon slaying brought on by pure madness, or a need to justify himself for sacrificing his beloved when he didn't need to because, as you had proven, the Dragon ''could'' be defeated?]]

* PolishedPort: The PC version of Dark Arisen has updated textures, 4K support, support for up to 144 FPS, many graphics options, reworked controls for keyboard and mouse with rebindable keys and item hotkeys, [[http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=600962775 the ability to mod Into Free -Dangan- back to the title screen]], and it can run on a toaster. It's to the point where Creator/TheCynicalBrit himself, [=TotalBiscuit=], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-fZyDad4io was nearly all compliments]].

* PolishedPort: The PC version of Dark Arisen has updated textures, 4K support, support for up to 150 FPS, many graphics options, reworked controls for keyboard and mouse with rebindable keys and item hotkeys, [[http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=600962775 the ability to mod Into Free -Dangan- back to the title screen]], and it can run on a toaster. It's to the point where Creator/TheCynicalBrit himself, [=TotalBiscuit=], [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-fZyDad4io was nearly all compliments]].

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Sort of; the game was specifically designed to sell to the American market, specifically the crowd that couldn't get enough of ''Skyrim'' or ''VideoGame/TheWitcher.'' ''Demon's Souls'' and ''Dark Souls'', which were both highly popular and praised in the west, were both made by a Japanese developer who showed that this can be done. But the game bombed badly (100,000 units, a far cry from the 1.5 to ''[[UpToEleven 10]]'' million Capcom was expecting) because Capcom released it at the same time as other, more highly anticipated games. In Japan, however, the game has sold nearly 500,000 copies, likely because the audience there is treating it as a stopgap for ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter 4''.