How Dragon's Dogma 2 Realizes Its Director's Vision From the First Game

ign.com:

Much like how when one thinks of Nintendo, the first developer that comes to mind is Shigeru Miyamoto, when I think of Capcom, the first developer I think of is Hideaki Itsuno. Over the course of his nearly 3 decade long career, Itsuno has worked entirely at Capcom as a planner, producer, consultant, and director for some of Capcoms biggest and best games. So of course, during our visit to Capcom in Osaka, we wanted to pick his brain on what he believes is special about Dragon's Dogma 2, the lessons he learned from the first game, and his overall vision for this sequel.

IGN: What kind of game is Dragon's Dogma 2?

Itsuno: Well, if you go by the numbering of the title, Dragon's Dogma 2 is the game following the first Dragon's Dogma that came out eleven years ago. While a number of other games have come out during that period, this is the second numbered title in the series. We wanted to make this an action-packed experience that takes place in an open world. It's an action RPG, an open world game, and a game with action by Capcom, which means there's been tons of work put into that part of it, primarily by our Devil May Cry team. What's most notable of all is that it's a single-player online party action game. Even though you play it on your own, you can experience the enjoyment of getting to play as a group. To be specific, there are characters known as Pawns, or followers that accompany your character, the protagonist. You recruit them on your own, then borrow two players created by someone online to form a four-player party.

IGN: The previous game in the series was a very ambitious one. Please tell us what you're proud of in that game, as well as about the kinds of innovations you think you added.

Itsuno: Well, that is in part because I'm someone who hates having to do extra work. I've always loved role-playing games, but at the same time I used to find command-based combat and grinding for experience to be such a bother. Going back to when Street Fighter 2 was wildly