Dragons dogma may bear terrible name, the game on the other hand is surprisingly addictive in it's own nature.
Very much isn't given when encountering your first dragon experience except you now harness certain ancient dragons ability's called "pawns", these pawns act as sigil on your journey, as you'll be able to create your personal pawn you can either create from demo version and port it over or simply from starting new game.
There's no real incentive doing either as both are same.
You will encounter notice boards on your journey while doing side quests that result in killing certain animals while embarking on epic boss like battles that seem familiar to shadow of colossus.
Game play:
Dragons dogma really fluid, controls play really well while being interesting and addictive at same time, being able to mount massive creature climbing on top and slashing bashing it to oblivion then realising it's better to reconcile your feelings towards this creature as it plummets your entire team straight towards the ground while being overwhelmed with what to do while this massive creature roam the plains.
The artificial nature of each AI seems challenging when engaging a battle especially those dragons that drop rare items (gryphic sword) they will not give up so easily. your AI team on the other hand may simply run off just to fight resulting in broken flanks or you spamming the d-pad button: come.
Since there's no actual way giving commands to your team except the d-pad function witch tells your pawns to either: (come) (go) (help) with these simple functions your best giving them support roles until they level up more.
No body likes rescuing dumb AI, while that maybe true these allied team-mates excel in making up to date events feel humble, if you misplaced treasure you forgot while in pitch black forest before your ambushed, they'll search around based on familiarity with certain areas as it increases their field of vision similar to teaching dog a trick.
Sound:
Sound plays important role in dragon dogma especially in those dark situated locations like dark nite sky.
Headphones can help improve with those limited peripheral dark surroundings since your ears will become your eye's making the game feel more immersive. some sounds indicate the level of hardness a boss will be in area so be warned.
Multilayer:
When you encounter a sigil stone it radiatess certain aura, this aura allows you to step inside the void allowing you to connect with other pawns=: "user created allies that assist you on your journey", they will help other players while in other realms but the pawn you created at start menu is with you for life but can also be customised at any inn that has sigil stone near it or barber shop, while the inn acts as storage box and vocational change in class the barber shop doesn't lol. only the main player "you" can create powerful abilities like: magical archer, magical knight. your pawn can only list default settings.
Trying to unclothe other helpful pawns will send that item back to creator and if you cloth a pawn with your items will gift wrap that item for creator.
When your finished with that useful or useless pawn and wish to send it away:
just walk up and converse some words and send them on their way, unfortunately they do not level up with you only your personal pawn does, so you'll be visiting the sigil stone from time to time acquiring more pawns that are at your skill level.
Graphics:
No where near revolutionary, but the overall feel and experience you'll get while playing dragons dogma will instantly transport you to another realm.
Pros
:Addictive, epic bosses seem memorable, interesting creature evolution, able to mount bosses, variety and assortment of spells ability's and classes, interesting pawn user created content, fluid controls, fast based battles, able to replicate items at shop per day saving you trouble finding those pesky items.
Cons:
very small world map, teleporting very expensive while also being broken function, unable to replicate more items per day, command functions poor, terrible screen tear when covering black boarders, selecting quest missions can get confusing when searching within world map, not large variety bosses to fight, feedback system feels like fashion show seeing others pawns major burden, every time sleeping at any inn your forced into waiting for the server to send feedback from another user and what items they've offered you.
Overall:
Dragon dogma's great game while with other games being better in their own critique you'll no doubt enjoy dragons dogma given you give it a chance.