DMC4 has influenced Dragon's Dogma, says Capcom

Dragon’s Dogma producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi has revealed that Capcom’s upcoming fantasy RPG plucks a hefty amount of influence from Devil May Cry 4.

Kobayashi told Siliconera that a significant chunk of the Dragon’s Dogma development team happens to be comprised of DMC4 veterans, hence why the stylish actioner has had so much impact on the ambitious new IP.

“The core design team came from Devil May Cry 4, including the director, Hideaki Itsuno,” he commented.

“The influences from that game are pretty strong in here. We didn’t want to just take the Devil May Cry system and throw it in this game. We wanted to take the influence of that game.”

“We looked at what we did in Devil May Cry, for example the way Dante and Nero interact with the enemies. We took what’s good about fighting enemies up close and personal and tried to put that in Dragon’s Dogma,” he continued.

For Kobayashi, one of the main highlights of Dragon’s Dogma is the diversity found in the game’s combat system, particularly the highly-touted “grab” mechanic. Apparently, Capcom wants you to brawl with foes with as much freedom as possible, so you feel like a movie hero.

“The fact that you have an open world and the main character can go and do whatever he wants in this world, it gave birth to the idea that he’s fighting enemies and he should be able to fight them in anyway that he wants and so we came up with the idea of the grab mechanic,” explained Kobayashi.

“He can climb on these enemies and fight them how ever he chooses. I think the freedom which you can fight creatures is one of the main selling points of Dragon’s Dogma. We wanted it to feel like you’re the hero in a movie and you can do whatever you want while fighting.”

As for customisation, the producer teased that the system will be quite an extensive affair, though remained tight-lipped on any further details – Capcom wants it to be a “surprise,” you see. However, he did reveal you’ll get three primary classes, as well as three prestige specialisations.

Dragon’s Dogma is due out in 2012 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.