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Back in 2012, before the whole multiverse, alternate-world trends popped off, Itsuno and friends dared to experiment with that in Dragon’s Dogma and its Dark Arisen version. Now, a decade later, Dragon’s Dogma 2 shares similar story elements that can lead to a confusing ending. While we all love the Game of Thrones-esque plot with a few Eragon elements here and there, the plot can overwhelm many right at the end. That’s why we’ll try to explain this sequel’s narrative and ending in the best possible way. But before you move on, there are heavy spoilers ahead, so read only if you dare.
Rise and Shine, Arisen
The game’s initial cutscene does little to explain what’s going on. You see a good old medieval banquet with people dancing, drinking, and waiting for the land’s Sovran, or ruler, to arrive. In Vermund, there’s a tradition of making the Arisen the ruler of this place. And that’s what we see. A faceless figure sits on their throne, and as soon as they make a toast, time stops; you get a first-person shot of the drink spilling, and then you switch to your Arisen. Quite confusing, right?
We now travel to Battahl’s excavation site in the land of beastren, and things just get more confusing. After creating your character, the one in charge of the excavation treats you as a pawn, saying he doesn’t like your “defying look.” After watching the place where you’re supposed to work for the rest of your life, a familiar face helps you get the ropes of your job. That is, until an iconic mythological creature attacks and a ghost-like character tells you to escape.
The weird spectral character is called “Pathfinder” in the game, and he tells you that you and a fan-favorite pawn should fly away in the wings of a griffin. After doing so, a certain waifu Ulrika, instead of aiming for your heart to woo you, aims at the poor flying creature, and you crash land on Vermund, where the adventure begins.
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How to Save in Dragon’s Dogma 2The Eternal Struggle
The game’s first hours don’t do much to set the overall story, but if you played the first title, you might guess what the plot is building up for Dragon’s Dogma 2‘s ending. After learning how to craft and deliver items, it’s time to hit the road. Your first stop: Melve. It seems this is the place where Ulrika shot you down from, but most importantly, where the Dragon attacked. Here, you get the usual “I’m the protagonist, so I need to pass out to get a flashback with exposition” syndrome and see your origins.
It would seem you were part of Melve’s guard. The dragon attacked and, like the hero you are, you defended Ulrika. I feel Ulrika has a love-hate relationship with the Arisen. Anywho, you use a sword smaller than the dragon’s claw to hit it and get burnt to a crisp. To add salt to the wound, the Dragon steals your heart, and lo and behold, the Arisen is born!
After the Dragon eats your heart, you can hear them say you are charged with being the Arisen. What does that mean? Does it include dental? No one knows. The only thing you know is that Ulrika nurses you to health after your passing out, and you’re off to Vermund.
Cloak and Dagger
I hope you like political intrigue because that’s what you’ll get in Vermund. It turns out there’s already an Arisen in town. But how? You’re the one who can summon pawns. Instead of hanging you for possibly lying, people have good values here and tell you to reach Vermund to see what’s happening. Since there’s already an Arisen on the throne, one has to be lying, right? Thankfully, Captain Brant and friends believe you and become your merry band of helpers. However, gaining the trust of the city is easier said than done.
After several culling monster missions, a few investigation quests, and a fancy masquerade, the story of Dragon’s Dogma 2 kicks off. Here, you find out about the false Arisen, his origins, why the queen regent wants to put someone else on the throne, and more. But most importantly, get evidence to justify your rightful claim against the usurpers. So everything’s ready. Captain Brant, you, and your main pawn are ready to storm the castle. But wait, it isn’t that easy.
At the castle’s entrance, your Pawn’s operative systems start failing, or rather, they aren’t allowed to proceed. They tell you things don’t bode well, and they’re getting the heebie jeebies. So, with a socially anxious Pawn who can’t enter the castle, you’re back to the drawing board.
Stars in the Sand
Since Vermund gave us zero answers other than the fake Arisen having a strange device on his chest to control Pawns, where do we go now? Battahl! The lands of furries and mysticism. According to new information, there’s a thing called “Godsway,” which the good folk of Battahl use to control Pawns. You and your merry band of otherworldly travelers are tasked with entering the city, gaining everyone’s trust, and earning the equivalent of a green card. Once legally allowed in the city, it’s time to put on your detective’s hat.
Here, many things happen. First, you meet the dragon-forged. A previous Arisen who lost his power but can help you upgrade items with Wyrmslife Crystals. You also meet an oracle who is a past Arisen, who helps you enter the Hidden Magick Laboratory. To do that, though, you must search for a huge “Godsway” crystal, and the only way to get it is by speaking to yet another previous Arisen.
Back at Harve Village, you find an old man who initially seems crazy but actually has a lot of knowledge about “Godsway” stuff, the dragon, and the cycle. More on the latter later. Out of the blue, a Shrine appears in the sea, and it is time to reach the world’s first Sovran.
Rise, Talos!
After navigating inside the Seafloor Shrine, you find Rothais, Vermund’s founder. Once he learns you’re the Arisen and looking for the purest “Godsway” out there, he manifests a blade, which we’ll call “Godsbane Blade.” If you take this back to the Hidden Laboratory in Battahl, Ambrosius will empower it for you. However, instead of giving it back to you, he wants to keep it. But here comes Pathfinder to the rescue.
Pathfinder, the spectral guy, throws a spell at Ambrosius and convinces him to hand you the Godsbane. So far, it seems Pathfinder is looking for a way to make the Arisen continue with the cycle, which in Dragon’s Dogma 2 is the same as the first game. Arisen kills Dragon, Dragon revives, new Arisen appears, and so on. And so far, it seems you’re aiming for that outcome as well. That is until the Talos, a huge construct, rises from the sea and heads toward the old excavation site.
At this moment, Phaesus, another sorcerer in Battahl, calls the fake Arisen, grabs a “Godsway” staff that lets him control Pawns, and sets off to the excavation site. Yes, a lot of pieces moving everywhere. They’ll all make sense soon.
Once you reach the coastline, you stop the Talos in one of the game’s most epic fights and enter the excavation site for the final confrontation. After the most unnecessary one-on-one fight against Phaesus’s bodyguard, you see the sorcerer opening a portal with the “Godsway” staff. He mentions he wants to break the cycle. And you, not knowing what to do, draw blades and kill the fake Arisen and his guards.
A Neverending Cycle
Here is where you can get any of the endings in Dragon’s Dogma 2, so if you’ve made it this far, here’s another story spoiler warning just for safety measures.
Phaesus isn’t bad. He’s one of the many annoyed people in this world who want to stop the cycle. Why? Each cycle brings a dragon and destruction with it. You unknowingly thwart his plans while he’s summoning a drake he wants to control. At this moment, the actual dragon who stole your heart appears, burns the summoned drake, knocks Phaesus out, and the moment of choices begins.
The dragon tells you to fight it, as that is your role as the Arisen. Also, he brings your beloved (whoever that might be, depending on your affinity levels) and tells you to walk away and leave your beloved with the dragon. Here, you have two choices. Hit the dragon with your weapon and fight it, or walk away. Both seem to lead to the standard ending, which is you, as the Arisen, claim the throne, and the cycle starts again. However, there’s a secret choice that leads to the true ending. If you hit the dragon, it’ll fly you to the final battle’s location. On the way, if you use the Godsbane Blade next to its heart, you’ll unlock the true ending and the endgame.
Dragon’s Dogma 2
By now, you might’ve noticed the game’s opening titles and loading screen say “Dragon’s Dogma,” not “Dragon’s Dogma 2,” well, hold on to your pawns because here comes the game’s biggest reveal.
By using the Godsbane Blade, you break the cycle but turn the whole map into the Unmoored World. The areas you explore, except Melve, because that poor place gets obliterated, are now surrounded by red clouds, and undead creatures are everywhere. Beyond that, you get harder variants of certain enemies. That’s just the gameplay part of things; in terms of story, it is quite mind-blowing.
Turns out the Pathfinder is angry at you for breaking the cycle, so it seems they want the Arisen versus Dragon bout to continue forever. Since you broke it, the only ones who can help you are the previous Arisen, the ones I mentioned above. Furthermore, after you fell from the sky with the dragon, the Brine (the thing that won’t let you swim) absorbed you for a month, and your main pawn disappeared. So now, with a new world, here’s where the true sequel begins.
Here you have many things to do. Recover your pawn, close the red pillars of light that contain deformed drakes and worms, gather all people at the seafloor shrine to evacuate, and end the cycle.
Will Is Power
After finishing the abovementioned tasks, it’s time to put an ending to the confusing story of Dragon’s Dogma 2. You raise the Godsbane Blade once more and summon the dragon that fell from the sky with you. This time, it is corrupted. You climb on it, attempting to stab its heart with the blade. For some reason, while you were gone, your Pawn manifested a will of its own, allowing them to turn into a drake. Yes, you read that right.
In the most epic cutscene ever, which you can play while the credits roll, your Pawn sacrifices itself to open the dragon’s heart, and you, being the heroic Arisen you are, stab it, thus closing the cycle, bringing back the world to its normal state, and disappearing.
You see a world restored, happy people, and one thing that surprised me a lot. The crazy old Arisen at Harve Village gets on a boat and sails away, meaning the Brine is no more, and you, the Arisen, broke the cycle once and for all.
What Happens Next?
Personally, I feel the ending for Dragon’s Dogma 2 ended as an open one, especially because your Pawn and you are nowhere to be seen, meaning there might be more stories to be told. On the other hand, one could interpret this as the Pawn and the Arisen sacrificing themselves in the true ending and breaking the cycle of Dragon’s Dogma 2. Still, there are many unanswered questions.
Why is the old man sailing, and where is he heading? What happened with the Pathfinder? Now that the cycle is broken, is he gone? It isn’t clear. But like the first game, we hope we get more content for this one and probably a rightful conclusion. While the story of Dragon’s Dogma 2 is much better than that of its predecessor, the ending is still confusing. However, we feel it ends on a high note and makes everyone’s main Pawns take the spotlight they deserve.
