Dragon's Dogma 2 director wants you to think its world is so exciting you won't care you can't ride a horse

Dragon's Dogma 2 doesn't make it easy to get around its world, but the game's director hopes that the world is enticing enough so that it doesn't matter.

Fast travel? Who needs it! Ok, a lot of people probably, as open world games can often be massive and a bit of a pain in the derriere to get around, but it doesn't mean it isn't interesting when games try to force you to explore nonetheless. Dragon's Dogma is one such game, as while it does have fast travel, it won't be easy to start. Game director Hideaki Itsuno knows that players want to be able to get around easily, but he did recently share some thoughts with Automaton as to why that might be. "In open-world games, players often want a long-distance means of transportation such as horses," Itsuno said.

"However, I think the reason why users want horses is not so much because they want to experience horse riding, but because they feel bored on the road if they’re not riding. Therefore, our goal was to prepare a path so enjoyable that players would not feel the need for a horse. We have built in a lot of “fun” into the map so that players will not get bored along the way, and our development policy was to make it so that it would actually be a shame to ride a horse (laughs)."

I wouldn't worry too much if you're someone that does like to fast travel to help you 100% a game though. Producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi also explained in the same interview that "we also don’t intend to impose anything on them, as we believe that players have various ways of interacting with the game. Thus, while being mindful of balance, we have prepared a fast-travel system that uses Ferrystones."

Itsuno went on to further detail Ferrystones, which are apparently "super rare" during your first run, but "as you come by more money, you can start using them quite freely." Essentially, it sounds like the early game will require you to actually explore, which certainly isn't a bad thing - the devs want you to see what they made after all!

There'll be other ways to travel too, like via an ox cart, though these can be attacked, so you should always keep your wits about you.

Alex recently got the chance to preview the game, and he doesn't just think it's a game of the year contender, but that it could be an all-time great too. The rest of us will have to wait until March 22 to find out just how true that is.