How to be the worst wizard in Dragon's Dogma 2 - Act 1

Before I sat down to play three hours of Dragon's Dogma 2 at a Capcom event last month, I gave myself two broad objectives. The first was to discover if there's anything genuinely different about this undeniably enchanting but very familiar sequel to one of the happiest, barmiest action-RPGs of the past 20 years. The second was to royally screw myself by fielding a party consisting exclusively of magic-users. In Dragon’s Dogma 2 as in Dragon’s Dogma 1, you lead a gang of up to three AI-controlled "pawn" characters – one permanent main sidekick who levels up alongside you, plus two auxiliary pawns created by other players, who are either summoned at Rift stones or spawned into the open world as hired help. As in most RPGs, the ideal party setup is a mix of pure melee, ranged and magical DPS or support classes, but given the whimsicality of Dragon’s Dogma’s sorcery, with its levitation spells and lightning whips, I’ve always wanted to try a whole playthrough as a posse of unescorted occultists. Read more