“I’d Get Mad at Middle Schoolers Who Wouldn’t Type Politely in Chat”

Dragon’s Dogma 2 has finally hit the shelves and is enjoying a decent run so far. The sequel to 2012’s Dragon’s Dogma game, the latest installment was released on March 22, 2024, on PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X and S.

The game is set in a fantasy-themed world parallel to that of its predecessor. The players get to control a customizable character known as “Arisen.” In the ongoing geopolitical conflict, players must complete quests and progress in the game with the help of their chosen allies known as “Pawns.”

Hideaki Itsuno shares his early gaming experiences

Game Director Hideaki Itsuno recently in an interview with IGN spilled the beans about his latest project. He was asked about what Dragon Dogma he liked and what enhancements or innovations he had added to the sequel when compared to the first game. To this he says,

“Well, that is in part because I’m someone who hates having to do extra work. I’ve always loved role-playing games, but at the same time I used to find command-based combat and grinding for experience to be such a bother.”

He shared that way back when he was a student and Street Fighter 2 was immensely popular, he always wondered if just the action portion of these games could be a new Street Fighter 2. He says that after he was given the responsibility of making games, he wanted to make those two desires into a reality.

Additionally, he shares that he started thinking about making this game around 2001 or 2002. Back then online games were not played on internet connections that were even close to being fast as they are today. Nonetheless, “I still revered them,” he says.

Hideaki Itsuno reveals the reason behind creating Dragon’s Dogma

Itsuno talked about what bothered him while playing online games as a student. He says,

“I had a chance to play some myself, and they were like the worlds I’d always dreamed of. But at the same time, I found them surprisingly annoying. These were games you should be able to play anytime and anywhere in theory, yet I’d have to gather with all of my friends to start at a specific time, or I’d feel bad about going to use the bathroom, or I’d get mad at middle schoolers who wouldn’t type politely in chat.”

Itsuno shares that due to all these reasons, he would often want to play online games while expecting to avoid these kinds of annoying experiences, without having to be so considerate of others.

Talking about creating Dragon’s Dogma, Itsuno says,

“There was a time when I came up with ideas for how to make that work, and I wanted to make an action RPG that did two things: I wanted to create an RPG that wasn’t a chore to play, and I wanted to make an RPG you could play alone that still felt like an online experience. I created Dragon’s Dogma by combining these two ideas.”

The game director feels proud of making a game that allows players to play with friends even when they are alone. Besides, he believes that Dragon’s Dogma 2 is an RPG that combines action elements in a way to feel just as fun as an all-out action game.