Hideaki Itsuno, director of Dragon's Dogma 2, has shared some thoughts about the use of fast travel in video games.
Itsuno spoke about the upcoming game in an interview with IGN, where he confirms the team is taking a similar approach to world traversal that the original game did. Instead of being able to fast travel to a vast number of landmarks players have previously visited, they'll instead need to rely on Portcrystals to designate their own fast travel points. Ferrystones, the consumable item needed to initiate the fast travel process, are making a return too.
It was a controversial method of fast travel back in the day, and likely will be in Dragon's Dogma 2. However, Itsuno has weighed in on why his team elected to go against the grain of modern game design.
"Travel is boring? That's not true. It's only an issue because your game is boring. All you have to do is make travel fun," Itsuno says in the interview.
He adds: "We've put a lot of work into designing a game where you can stumble across someone and something will happen, so, while it's fine if it does have fast travel, we decided to design the kind of map where players will make the decision for themselves to travel by bike or on foot in order to enjoy the journey."
For those who do prefer to travel speedily, Dragon's Dogma 2 still offers players other methods of getting around. They can ride oxcarts which can hastily carry them across certain routes (albeit with the added risk of being ambushed by bandits and creatures). Skilled players can also hop on the backs of attacking griffins to carry them across large distances.
Whether you're keen on Dragon's Dogma 2's particular style of fast travel or not, it does seem like its world will be every bit as fleshed out and packed with secrets and oddities as its predecessor.
Excited for Dragon's Dogma 2? Consider checking out some of the best PS5 games and best Nintendo Switch games to help that wait feel a little bit shorter.
