The gameplay is concluded, and now I want to look back at all my posts and try to assemble an Enneagram from the plot.
Caveat One: This is a videogame, and a rudimentary story has proven sufficient for the genre. Will Dogma show itself to have more?
Caveat Two: This story never ends. For me, that’s what makes this one of the best games. A cycle of reincarnation, not just “New Game” mechanics, is so unique. The Nine will always come back to the One, spiralling in place. And yet, we also spiral upward, not restarting but building from the last run, experiencing the same story but interacting with more experience, skill, and gear.
Let’s play.
ONE
From nowhere and with no warning, a humongous dragon lands on the beach of a fishing village and destroys things. We, the untested Arisen, pick up a sword and battle something so large, we’re the size of its toe.
As we lie in the surf, knocked aside, the dragon plucks our heart from our chest. It balances on his talon, beating. Then he swallows it and flies away.
We awaken in a hut. Our chest is brutally scarred and we have no heartbeat. Quina wants to help us, but at this point none of us knows anything.
On the way out the gate we’re greeted by a Pawn, our first. He explains to us about Riftstones and helps us prove ourselves. Afterward, a voice from the Rift offers us our own Pawn and allows us to now hire two others for adventuring.
TWO
A foreign warrior, Mercedes, invites us to rest. We are awakened by an attacking hydra. After we cleave off a head, it slides away. (To where? From where? Shh.) Mercedes, impressed, arranges for us to join her on a trip to the capital city, Gran Soren. We will show the Duke this beast head.
Meanwhile, Quina has gone missing. We track her down in the Witchwood. Hoping to learn more about the dragon, she seeks the local witch there. Instead we find the granddaughter, a young woman who hasn’t been taught wyrm lore. She does mention, though, that the Church knows about such things. Quina now has a plan.
We escort the hydra head to Gran Soren. While Mercedes leaves to inform the Duke, the Pawn Guild is suggested to us. We find the room and the guildmaster, who asks us to investigate a strange occurrence in the caverns beneath the guild.
THREE
We descend into the Everfall, spiraling downward until we arrive at the bottom. There, we see an unearthly glow. When we touch the ground, snaky worms erupt and attack us. We run back up, worms emerging and chasing us.
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