{"id":796783,"date":"2025-12-04T10:35:59","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T10:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qBVErdYiK6KSMcqEMSijSM"},"modified":"2025-12-04T10:35:59","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T10:35:59","slug":"battahl-in-dragons-dogma-2-is-an-utter-nightmare-but-its-taught-me-that-sometimes-giving-up-is-also-the-best-way-to-keep-going","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/battahl-in-dragons-dogma-2-is-an-utter-nightmare-but-its-taught-me-that-sometimes-giving-up-is-also-the-best-way-to-keep-going\/","title":{"rendered":"Battahl in Dragon’s Dogma 2 is an utter nightmare, but it’s taught me that sometimes, giving up is also the best way to keep going"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dragon's Dogma 2 has a very weird take on difficulty. Things aren't too hard while you're running around Vermund\u2014there's some goblins, some asps, and a couple of ogres. Once you get a handle on the combat system, you might even start feeling confident. Then Battahl happens.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Anyone who has been there knows what I'm talking about, but for the uninitiated, here's a rundown.<\/p>\n

Two experiences come to mind when I think of Battahl. Experience one: I am entering this zone for the first time, desperately trying to get to the city so I can tick off this main quest. I'm getting knocked around by goddamn everything\u2014see, I made the mistake of showing up as a Fighter with the augment that increases enemy aggro, and everything staggers you in Battahl. Everything.<\/p>\n

I see what I can only describe as the world's crappiest ski lift. Two of them, to be exact, linking to the same island, heading towards the city I need to get to. I think to myself, drowning in hubris: “Ah, okay. The enemy density's meant to encourage you to use this travel system, that's neat.” I claw my way up to the first station and call the lift over. It's a slow and uneventful journey.<\/p>\n

I arrive at the first pitstop and fight some bandits who'd claimed dibs on that pillar of stone. I kill them, and moments later a griffin shows up. I scare it off. I get on the next lift and my pawns, as if seeing the writing on the wall, refuse to accompany me. A harpy shows up, grabs me, and hurls me off for having the audacity to try and go somewhere in a videogame.<\/p>\n

The second experience was when I was trying to get out of fantasy Australia. I elect to take the oxcart, but we get ambushed. My sorcerer pawn thinks “Hey, this is a great time to cast Seism!” and obliterates my only mode of transport, leaving us stranded in the exact middle of where I was coming from and where I was trying to go. I spend about five minutes fighting off choppers (and also a cyclops, who shows up mid-brawl). We win. Then a griffin happens. I try to climb on its back and it immediately takes off.<\/p>\n

At this point I am fully surrendered to the whims of fate. I mean\u2014look, I had plans, but clearly Dragon's Dogma 2 doesn't care what I think, want, or feel. Unless I'm willing to burn a Ferrystone, no journey is assured.<\/p>\n

And it's not just me\u2014here's a couple of clips from my fellow arisen that really drive home both how enemy-dense Battahl is, and how utterly useless its ski lifts are.<\/p>\n

Average Battahl exploration experience<\/a> from r\/DragonsDogma<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n