- Dragon's Dogma 2 pre-released its character creator before the full launch, and I am now completely spoiled.
- A pre-release character creator helps build excitement around a game for gamers worldwide.
- This also helps developers successfully gauge interest and excite players to try out their titles.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 is already out and making a lot of waves in either direction. While gamers surely are angry with the game’s performance issues and surprise microtransactions, there is a silver lining to all this. Capcom has done a solid and released a full-fledged character creator for the game. It not only allowed you to make your character and Pawns, but it also allowed you to carry the character into the final launch. This got me thinking. Why don’t more developers do it?
On top of my mind, I remember Koei Tecmo doing it with Nioh 2 and Capcom doing it with Street Fighter 6. However, developers generally do not launch their character creators separately. As I spent some hours creating my arisen from my office, I realized more games should do this. And this benefits both the developers and the gamers positively. Don’t know what I mean? Let me explain.
Launching Character Creators Early Allows Everyone to Be Ready
It’s hardly a secret that gamers go crazy for character creators. I personally have spent hours upon hours creating the perfect contender. While launching the creator with the game itself is common, an earlier reveal has many benefits.
I, for one, want to jump into any given experience as fast as possible. So, I absolutely loved the fact that Capcom released it earlier. Not only could I create my protagonist, but I also imported my character into the game as soon as it came out. This meant zero downtime and a lot more fun.
Furthermore, releasing a character creator early also helps build excitement among the players. To be very honest, I didn’t have a lot of expectations from Dragon’s Dogma 2. While I liked the first game, I wasn’t losing my sleep over the second one. However, spending time with the character creator helped me build up that much-needed hype around it.
Launching a Character Creator Early Also Helps the Developer
However, releasing a character creator has benefits that go both ways. Remember how I mentioned Dragon’s Dogma 2’s creator helped me get hyped up? Imagine that same effect but on millions of gamers. However, besides the excitement, one of the biggest reasons for its success was simple: the variety of options.
As soon as it dropped, gamers started creating the funniest abominations using Dragon’s Dogma 2’s character creator. This included characters from different TV shows, actors, and even meme caricatures.
This successfully helped change public perception and build expectations among everyone. As such, releasing the character creator earlier not only helped us see the creator’s potential but also made everyone excited. As more people started sharing images of their creations, more became interested in the game.
A similar thing happened when Nioh 2 launched their demo with a character creator. Back then, it helped Nioh 2 get tons of traction among gamers. Because its character creator allowed everyone to create unique characters.
The Dragon’s Dogma 2 Character Creator Has Spoiled Me
At the end of the day, Capcom has achieved what it sought to do. Releasing the character creator for Dragon’s Dogma 2 earlier built positive expectations not just for me but from most gamers around. It worked enough that I ended up buying the game almost immediately.
While I know most RPGs, especially CRPGs, cannot launch their character creator early, more games with custom characters should consider doing so. After all, people love flaunting their creations online. So, did you try out Dragon’s Dogma 2’s character creator? What are your thoughts about it? Let us know in the comments below.
