Dragon's Dogma II 2 Review - The Player Is Playing As A Mystic Spearhand And Fighting A Group Of Goblins

Dragon’s Dogma 2’s Latest Update Adds New Performance Options On Console

The frame rates, they have Arisen.

Avatar photoBy Kieron Verbrugge

Update: And as promised, Capcom has dropped a healthy new update for Dragon’s Dogma 2 on PC and consoles, bringing the game up to title version 1.050.

This new update brings with it a number of highly-requested features, some affecting gameplay – like the ability to start a new game when a game-in-progress already exists, as well as making more appearance-altering items available – while the bigger changes have offered players new options to smooth over performance on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.

These new settings have arrived to help mitigate some of the fairly-egregious performance issues the game has had since launch, not strictly by optimising anything in the game as-is but by allowing players to turn off some of the game’s ray-traced lighting as well as cap the frame rate at 30FPS.

The former option definitely does boost performance on console (at least in my use on PS5), almost in every circumstance, though the trade-off is a removal of the game’s beautiful ray-traced global illumination that really brings the presentation together. Areas where frame rates suffered most, like intense battles and busy city areas, are still a sore spot even with RT turned off, likely due to these being bottlenecked by the consoles’ CPUs rather than GPU performance. Capping the framerate can be handy for anyone sensitive to massive variation in frames, but also takes away the moments where it goes above 30, which is still fairly often throughout the game, so turning this off doesn’t seem as useful in my eyes. Motion blur is a matter of taste, but the option to switch this off is no doubt welcome for some.

Here’s everything that’s new:

Dragon’s Dogma 2 Title Update 1.050 Patch Notes

[PlayStation®5 / Steam]

  • Adding the option to start a new game when save data already exists.
  • Changing the number of “Art of Metamorphosis” items available at Pawn Guilds in the game to 99.
  • Making the quest that allows players to acquire their own dwelling (where they can save and rest) available earlier in the game.
  • Miscellaneous text display issues.
  • Miscellaneous bug fixes.

[PlayStation®5]

  • Adding the option* to switch Motion Blur on/off in Options.
  • Adding the option* to switch Ray Tracing on/off in Options.
  • Adding the option to set Frame Rate at Max 30fps in Options.

[Xbox Series X|S]

  • Adding the option to start a new game when save data already exists.
  • Changing the number of “Art of Metamorphosis” items available at Pawn Guilds in the game to 99.
  • Making the quest that allows players to acquire their own dwelling (where they can save and rest) available earlier in the game.
  • Adding the option* to switch Motion Blur on/off in Options.
  • Adding the option to set Frame Rate at Max 30fps in Options.
  • Miscellaneous text display issues.
  • Miscellaneous bug fixes.

[Xbox Series X]

  • Adding the option* to switch Ray Tracing on/off in Options.

[Steam]

  • Improving quality when DLSS SUPER RESOLUTION is enabled.
  • Fixing an issue related to the display of models under some specific settings.

Original Story: With Dragon’s Dogma 2 finally launched, and players around the world setting out on their journeys, Capcom has emerged to address a number of issues that folks are having with the game and created a list of planned updates it’s working on to alleviate at least some of them.

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The list includes some general bug fixes across platforms, but also speaks to some more specific wants from players, like changes to how save data is handled, a great supply of character-altering items and earlier opportunity to purchase your own residence.

Crucially, the list also contains some proposed changes to graphical settings on the console version of the game, giving players the option to toggle on/off things like motion blur and ray-tracing, and cap the currently-unlocked framerate at 30FPS.

The ability to turn off ray-tracing in particular might sound like the saving grace console players are looking for to improve the game’s quite-shaky performance, but Capcom has already noted that these settings aren’t likely to affect performance by a large margin. The game’s struggles are more on the CPU side as a result of the sheer amount of simulation going in, in particular with Pawns and NPCs in the world, so while some new settings might smooth it over a little more we can’t expect a suddenly uplift to a solid 60FPS when those rays aren’t being traced.

Here’s the list of updates that Capcom is bringing to the game “as soon as they are ready for distribution on each platform.”

Dragon’s Dogma 2 PC And Console Updates

Updates for All Platforms (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series XIS, Steam)

  • Adding the option to start a new game when save data already exists.
  • Changing the number of “Art of Metamorphosis” items available at Pawn Guilds in the game to 99.
  • Making the quest that allows players to acquire their own dwelling (where they can save and rest)
  • available earlier in the game.
  • Miscellaneous text display fixes.
  • Miscellaneous bug fixes.

Updates for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series XIS

  • Adding the option* to switch Motion Blur on/off in Options.
  • Adding the option* to switch Ray Tracing on/off in Options.
  • Adding the option to set Frame Rate to either Variable or Max 30fps in Options.

*These options will not affect the frame rate significantly. Frame rate improvements are planned for future updates.

Updates for Steam

  • Improving quality when DLSS Super Resolution is enabled.
  • Fixing an issue where models appeared low-quality under some specific settings.

We gave Dragon’s Dogma 2 a 9/10 in our review, with James saying “Dragon’s Dogma II embodies the essence of what the original should have been. With its expansive open world teeming with dangerous but delightful encounters, enjoyable combat, and versatile vocations, it’s an enchanting experience from beginning to end.”