Oops, I almost beat Dragon’s Dogma 2 by accident

polygon.com:

I was about 40 hours into my first playthrough of Dragon’s Dogma 2 when a sinking feeling started to settle in. “Wait, am I about to beat the game? Is this the final boss fight?” I thought. Turns out I was, and about 10 minutes into that final confrontation, I pulled the in-game equivalent of the ejection seat lever and quit.

There was still so much to do, so much of the map I’d not yet uncovered. I’d heard stories about a Sphinx and an elven enclave, and I hadn’t discovered those yet. Hell, I had five active quests that had been simmering (e.g., “The Phantom Oxcart”), and I wasn’t ready to head into Dragon’s Dogma 2’s post-game or new game plus. I’m not a completionist, nor did I attempt to save scum my way past tough choices or failed quests, but I knew I wasn’t mentally prepared to see any kind of ending.

Fortunately, Dragon’s Dogma 2’s weird save system helped me out. Before venturing into what later turned out to be a point of no return — or the closest thing this game has to it — I took the advice of an NPC who suggested I rest at an inn before venturing further. I saved, giving me an important back-up to reload from.

The game had previously hinted that the endgame was imminent, but I’ve been tricked by Dragon’s Dogma 2 before. Earlier in my journey, the NPC quest-giver Captain Brant had sufficiently warned me about progressing the quest “The Stolen Throne,” warning that I’d better have checked all tasks off my list before attending a masquerade ball that would have game-changing revelations. I took that warning seriously, only to walk away from that questline’s completion thinking, “Oh, that’s it?” I expected something similar of the “A New Godsway” quest, and thought it would be a stepping stone.

But here I was, face to face with the giant dragon who’d stolen my heart earlier in the game. A new quest named “Legacy” had started, and I realized that my pawns and I were about to wrap things up. Unfinished quests disappeared, and what followed was a battle