03/25/2024, 09:52 AM
Dragon’s Dogma 2 Mods Undercut Capcom’s Controversial Microtransactions, Dish Out Infinite Save Slots
Just days after Dragon’s Dogma 2 launched amid a controversy over its microtransactions, modders have worked their magic, making much of what publisher Capcom is selling day-one available for free.
Just days after Dragon’s Dogma 2 launched amid a controversy over its microtransactions, modders have worked their magic, making much of what publisher Capcom is selling day-one available for free. As IGN has reported, Dragon’s Dogma 2 is currently embroiled in a vociferous debate about its day-one microtransactions, which let players pay real-world money for useful items in the $70 single-player action role-playing game. Items that can be obtained in-game or as paid DLC items include a character editor called Art of Metamorphosis, warp location markers (Portcrystals), Wakestones, which restore the dead to life, and gaol keys, which, as you’d expect, let players escape from gaol. Players can also buy a lightweight Explorer’s Camping Kit for $2.99. These microtransactions have sparked a controversy not just for the sheer number available day-one, but because they make parts of the game deliberately designed to challenge players in certain ways either easier, less frustrating, or quicker. Players have already pointed out that these microtransactions help with fast-travel, which in Dragon's Dogma 2 is restricted. Players require expensive and rare Ferrystones to teleport to designated Portcrystals. A Portcrystal, which costs $2.99 as a microtransaction, can be set at a destination of your choice. You then use a Ferrystone to instantly transport your party to the Portcrystal's location. (For more, here's How Fast Travel Works and How to Get Ferrystones.) Now, modders have provided all of these items for free on the PC version of Dragon’s Dogma 2. At the time of publication, the second most-popular Dragon’s Dogma 2 mod on NexusMods is Crazy’s Shop, by Crazy Potato. This mod, essentially a fast travel pack, adds hundreds of each of these key items, including Elite and Explorer’s Camp Kits, Wakestones, Rift Crystals, Portcrystals, and Ferrystones to the first shop in Vernworth. It’s been downloaded nearly 35,000 times. Also among the most-popular Dragon’s Dogma 2 mods is ‘Early n' Cheap Art of Metamorphosis’, which adds the Art of Metamorphosis tome to the first merchant in Melve and to Philbert's Sundries in Vernworth. This mod, created by SilverEzredes, has been downloaded over 21,000 times. Also popular at launch is Lennard Fonteijn’s Dragon’s Dogma 2 Save Manager. As IGN has explained, saving in Dragon’s Dogma 2 doesn’t work like you expect. You have one save slot, and that slot is constantly overwritten by three types of saves: manual saves, autosaves, and inn saves. Because Dragon’s Dogma 2 doesn’t allow for multiple save slots, autosaves replace your manual save. The save manager mod keeps track of your saves and lets you set them as active as you play the game, virtually giving you infinite save slots. Bizarrely, Dragon’s Dogma 2 has no ‘new game’ or ‘delete save’ option, which leaves players stuck with their initial playthrough. Capcom has told PC players it’s looking into adding the option of starting a new game to the Steam version, at least. Fonteijn’s Dragon’s Dogma 2 save manager lets players delete a selected save and switch to new character saves, allowing them to get around this odd feature of the game. And in a recent update, the mod added a button to force Dragon's Dogma 2 to let you create a new game. IGN has already reported on a modder who enabled Dragon’s Dogma 2’s own hidden DLSS 3 implementation for RTX 40 Series GPU owners, but there are loads of other useful mods already available for the game, including one that lets you make all items weigh nothing. Despite its ‘mixed’ user review rating on Steam, Dragon’s Dogma 2 set a new record for concurrent players of a single-player Capcom game on Valve’s platform. If you’re playing Dragon’s Dogma 2, be sure to check out Which Vocation to Choose, Things to Do First, Things Dragon's Dogma 2 Doesn't Tell You, and our Walkthrough hub.