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Here's Why Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen Doesn't Have New Achievements & Trophies
Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen is one of the games I was looking forward to playing the most this year. Given my somewhat psychotic desire to reach 200,000 gamerscore as quickly as possible (I currently sit at 199,454), my interest in this expansion nosedived a few days ago. I discovered Capcom didn’t create any new achievements for it, and I had to know why.
Like From Software's Dark Souls before it, Dark Arisen has earned a reputation for delivering punishing battles. The difference is that the thrill of overcoming great odds in Capcom's latest won’t be heralded by a satisfying “boop-boop.” My sigh of relief brought by victory won't be treated with the familiar oblong sigil or an increase in my gamerscore.
Capcom isn’t to blame for the lack of achievements, though. "Trophies and achievements gained in Dragon's Dogma will carry over to Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen so adding any new ones would exceed the standard amount of awards that can be received per game,” a Capcom representative told me. “Removing existing trophies and achievements to replace with new ones was not an option given the incompatibility issues with any trophies and achievements carried across in a player's save data from Dragon’s Dogma to Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen."
Retail Xbox 360 games are limited to 50 achievements worth 1,000 gamerscore. Developers and publishers can add to these totals through downloadable content. Bethesda upped The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’s totals to 75 achievements and 1,550 gamerscore through numerous DLC packs. On PlayStation 3, it offers 76 trophies (one extra for platinum).
Since Dark Arisen isn’t technically DLC, Microsoft would not allow new achievements to be implemented into the game. Had Capcom released Dark Arisen as a download-only expansion that didn’t include all of Dragon’s Dogma’s content, new achievements could have been added. At that point, Capcom could have released the Dragon’s Dogma/Dark Arisen collection to retail with more than 50 achievements and 1,000 gamerscore. Numerous developers have told me that they are frustrated and mystified by these arbitrary restrictions. Sony follows a similar system for trophies.
This is one instance where Microsoft and Sony should have altered restrictions for Capcom.
I know that achievements and trophies do not make a game, but they sure are fun to unlock – especially for someone like me who is striving for that next big milestone.
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