I love the image of a grouchy, veteran knight, bedecked in plate armour, marching about town chastising the locals for their lack of portcullises.

I also loved the fact that they were farming inside of Gran Soren to supply it somehow in case of a siege...probably those few fields wouldnt have been enough to supply the entire populace but its a nice touch of realism while other games dont even have farmland outside of their cities.

It's confuse me that Japanese developers made medieval castle more accurate than a lot of EU/USA developers.

Dragon's Dogma is a seriously underrated game. So, so fun, and super unique.

*cough* You forgot to mention the fact they built it on top of a giant, endless hole.

gran soren actually extended to the outmost ruined wall that you see in the field until over time it fell into decay so they reinforced the outerwall that you see now. for the defensive portions for the sea gran soren is built on an inlet and the main defense is actually the Blue Moon Tower for that side but still overtime that military sea tower fell into decay. so in order to even think about taking the castle with an army even after bluemoon tower fell into decay you would need to make sure you take control of either bridge to each side of the plains that the castle rests on(not the front gate bridges) you still have to get past heavenspeak fort since the quarry is not really a good way to get an army through. so out of the entire thing Gran Soren is only likely susceptible to sea attack. the entire region is just such a perfect defense that the only way is to take it from the inside dragon's dogma is really the best game so far that has done defense to this degree

This is definitely one of my all time favorites. I still remember my first night time adventure where I ran out of oil, most of my map was in blank (unknown area), couldn't see a thing and got brutally murdered by a Chimera and a group of bandits... Ahh what times!

Watching these videos is hilarious, because the majority of it is just Shad running around screaming "Machiculations! Portcullises! Muuh-dah holes!" "What's up with that guy?" "Oh that's Shad. Don't mind him, he's just really into castles." "CAWSULS! :D"

Ah, Master, you're back! What's this video? Treasure, perhaps? Let's have a look, this may provide aught of use. What an incredible view. Soaked to the bone! Yet there is much to find in these unexplored videos, Shadrisen... The hairs on my neck stands on end... It seems all roads lead to Gran Soren. I only hope we survive the next encounter...

see's a murderhole, instantly oragsms

I really adored Dragon's Dogma. The game blew me away on so many aspects, the lore, exploration, battle mechanics, endings, etc.

Wolves hunt in packs!

Oh I miss Dragon's Dogma. Why no sequel? :(

you should create your version of "The Perfect Castle"

*talking about realistic design of castle in videogame* *has a loli pawn with warrior vocation* OH THE IRONY

"Even in numbers, a weakling is a weakling still!" - Pawn

A sidenote about the pointless overhangs: There is a use to it - it increases the area on the wall. This might indeed be relatively significant, because it makes walking past ech other on a relatively slim wall much easier. Furthermore, any daring wall-climbers would have to climb an overhang - which is much more difficult than a straight wall. This is also true for siege ladders that are a little too short. P.s.: I dont see a problem thick wooden beams like that supporting some stone tiles. At least as long as they are close to the wall with direct triangular support beams, as is the case here.

Grand Soren is my favorite Citadel and fantasy City in all games. It's big, it has clear divisions of areas, and seeing this video and realizing how well it really is made with a few exceptions just makes it so much better. I love Dragon's Dogma!!

Gamers: This game is BEAUTIFUL! Shad: WOODEN FLOORS!

Dragon's Dogma is my favorite game as well! Definitely hits just the right note between medieval realism and fantasy elements. You might also be interested in checking out Black Desert Online at some point in this series. It's an interesting case in that very little relating to player characters can be said to be realistic or historically accurate (they're divided into fantasy classes, the combat is flashy and over-the-top MMO fare, the "armor" is little more than clothing, etc.), but the setting - from the cities and castles to the armor and weaponry of NPCs - is a lot more down-to-earth and kinda gives off a vibe that reminds me of Dragon's Dogma in a good way. A lot of similar cases where the developers clearly did at least some of their homework but manage to trip at the finish line somehow.

Something I really appreciate about Dragons Dogma, is that they let you mount monsters. Not like mount tamed monsters, but let you climb on them to take advantage of their blind spots, while all other videogames just make you stay on the floor like it was supposed to be a fair fight. Also you never hunt alone

I think the reason you don't see full metal portcullises is because back in the day metal would have been very heavy, high maintenance (rust) and expensive. So it would have made more sense to use wood as it was relatively cheap, easy to fix and replace, and much easier to lift and lower.

According to the history of the city, in a quest that you have to pick rubbles, Gran Soren had another outer wall, but it was destroy by a pack of griffins. Does that make any difference ?

Pssst... Hey kid... Want some... Machicolations?

In conclusion: it's far from perfect, but it's clear they've gone the extra mile to make it as good as possible, and they did a pretty good job. Just like every other part of Dragon's Dogma.

You finally did the Dragon's Dogma review \:D/

Question: If you were designing a castle, fortress, citadel or the like, in a world with magic and magical beasts, what would it consist of? What would the changes need to be made to it to properly defend against or or take advantage magic/beasts? Would the standard design even be appropriate anymore or would we have to come up with all brand new architecture, or do other points in history have better options? I think that would be a fun topic to explore! Maybe even as a colab with the other medieval channels or a community project!! I'm sure anyone who runs a tabletop game would love to have a structure specifically designed to take advantage and defend against magic/magical beasts in their pockets!!!

Considering the ruined walls outside across the fields around Gran Soren, I'm under the impression that it's been rebuilt or at least heavily maintained over a long time. Many things like additional portcullises may have been left behind with age.

More often than not, designers know _exactly_ what they're doing with regard to most of these things. They don't include them because the polycount of the piece would be multiplied anywhere from 2-3 times which would never meet the specs as outlined by the lead. So they adopt a 'we won't model it, you won't look for it' attitude.

Wait, what about the surrounding terrain?!

I think the abundance of griffins, goblins, skeletons, and other monsters in the area makes up for any lack of defense in the scenario of an approaching army lol

I was just playing this game yesterday thinking of how nice it would be for Shad to review Gran Soran. Amazing game, still playing it on pc ever since its release after playing it since launch on console.

I'd love to add in that this game was incredibly rushed and that the developers have only been able to add in 30% of the content they wanted in the actual game. This means that maybe every place in Gran Soren was supposed to be accessible, but they couldn't get it due to time and budget restraints. I'm incredibly excited for Dragon's Dogma 2, and I hope you are too, Shad!

"THE WIND IS PUSHING MEEEE!" I love Dragon's Dogma!

I'm no scholar, and I've seen more than my share of beautiful fantasy castles (masterworks, all) - but I was particularly struck by how believable and severe Gran Soren is. It doesn't have all kinds of towering spires and fancy gargoyles like, say, Bloodborne - it's just a giant block of stone there to get the job done. It feels heavy.

The part about Stone Slabs supported by wood is now my favorite Shad moment. Would have had me laughing aloud if my ribs weren't so sore from coughing.

1:49 the floating greatsword

NOVIGRAD !!! The witcher 3... Please, if you don't mind, thank you. Love this series so much!

Does the Misses know you're cheating on her with a virtual castle?

So I just picked up Dragon's Dogma off of steam. Last night. And after a few hours of binge gaming came to the city of Gran Soren. Afters getting the run of the place I started exploring around and was shocked at to the realism of this Castle I actually had to come see if you ever did a review on it. and low and behold you did. I'm starting to wish I would have picked this game up when it first came out on PC. I'm really enjoying it so far. The detail and the complexity of the game play while at same time being simple to grasp is amazing. But when I started exploring the battlements I was shocked to see that the internal layouts were there and made sense.

This game have a great great combat system, very japanese.

Hay Shad, I'm nobody to tell you what to do or even give you advice, but I think it'd be best for your channel if you focused mainly on castles and other defensive structures. There are many channels on KZfaq talking about armour and weapons, but I've rarely seen people analyzing castles to such a great, in-depth level. So keep up the good work, because to me, these videos are the most entertaining, as well as educational! (I'll never look at a castle the same way I did thanks to you).

i've been watching ur channel for awhile but i love dragons dogma so i was watching a dragons dogma related video and then this started by chance, didn't realize you also play and love this game. It's really, really good and for many reasons and not just the 'historically accurate/properly represented things'

Hey Shaddie, I know this one is a bit out of left-field, but there's a Mount and Blade Warband mod called Prophesy of Pendor which is still being worked on, it's been around for ages, but it has some really interesting castles (and an awesome low fantasy setting) that have been custom made. I just thought it would be cool for a channel like yours to cover the mod because the creators have put in a lot of hard work over a long period of time and their work deserves to have as many eyes on it as possible, in my humble opinion. If you are interested, two castles I'd suggest you look at are Seven Cross Keep, which has a really, really beautiful keep design with machicolations, which made me think of your channel. Walven Castle is another good one, because it's a castle that is clearly quite run-down and low budget but has some very sound defensive principle there. These are small castles as every inch of them is supposed to be practical in gameplay, so I'm sure you could cover a few in one video. I'd be really interested to hear your opinion on these keeps from a real-world standpoint. Thanks :)

I recently rewatched this video and am playing dragons dogma again right now. the round towers that surround the keep has proper machicolations. if you enter the door next to the second entrance to gran soren, you can go up on the wall and walk all the way to the end of it and look up to see that the machicolations have holes all the way through and you can see the sky. there is also a beautiful vaulted ceiling at the bottom of that tower. also the arrow slits that are missing outside the entrance of the city actually do have an alcove on the inside of the tower for where it should be. there are four alcoves on each tower but only the two middle ones have arrow slits. I also discovered a some toilets, one of wich is hanging over the pawnguild effectively shitting on their roof. you can also get to that bastion over the gate to the path to the noble quarter.

This is one of the reasons i loved this game, so much attention to detail for a fantasy game. Looking forward to part 2

Hahaha! Oh man! You're purposefully dramatized narrative really hit the spot. XD I think my colleagues at the office are really thinking that I've lost it, giggling to myself like I am. XD Awesome video, from an awesome game! Great going, Shad!

I'm quite a fan of Dragon's Dogma so hearing you so happy with makes me in fact happy.

I have been waiting for this. Seriously, beat the game first time couple days ago. Was playing through and thought "Wonder if Shad will do a review of Gran Soren..." EXPECTATIONS MET! :D Gran Soren is EXTREMELY well made as far as detail. Never seen anything that accurate before. Also what the Hell is your computer running? You said it's effectively bleeding trying to screen cap and play.

It's agreed this game is far from perfect, yet it also is my favorite game,replacing Skyrim which reigned supreme for years.

If I ever made a game that had castles, I would so contact you for castle design.

That pawn is an adorable little page.

I actually got lost in Gran Soren once. That's when you know you've created an immersive city XD

Amazing work as always Shad~~~

Glad to see someone who enjoys Dragond Dogma as much as I do. Gran Soren is great. There are a lot of other castles and defences in the game that is like to see you review

Thanks to this video my love for dragon's dogma increased a lot... And I didn't think I would be able to love it more than I already love it.

I love Dragons Dogma, even My girlfriend likes it. After watching/ listening to the castle review videos I've begun to want to design a castle/ keep for table top camping. Keep up with the good work Shad!

I've been waiting for this video from you for several years. thank you for being so thorough!

The best Cowclimbing Sim of all time

I knew it! I knew that you will like it! Exept for these cursed embattlemets (you'l have to look for them in Mount and blade). Also funny thing about Gran Soren (whatever) and your channel is that dragons and other wierd monsters are do tend to attack the city in order to neglect the concept of the castle (or to kill and eat some feble humans). And once again, sorry for my terrible english.

Hello, Shad. So, since my brother directed me to your channel some few months ago, I’ve been binging your videos and learning a lot. You see, I’m working on an animated mini-series that takes place in a medieval esqe fantasy setting, and your videos are a tremendous help to making it more authentic (even if they have, admittedly, led to some SUBSTANTIAL redesigns XD) It probably won’t be finished for another…… three hundred years! (since its pretty much just me working on it alone at the moment, and I have never done anything like this before) but anyway, you can just go ahead and add this to your collection of comments saying how awesome and informative your videos are. Thank you, and keep up the good work!

Shads joyful reactions show how much attention to detail can improve a game.

can you do a video on the old camp from Gothic 1?

the castle in Carcassonne has a tower above its outer wall which is completely open from the inside so that whoever takes it cannot use it to protect himself from arrows from that direction. there's a big empty space between that outer wall an the inner wall, turning that area​ into a murder zone (as well as an area where the castle defenders can assemble for a parley). it also has a neat system for the drawbridge where you need men on two separate floors to operate the windlasses​ to raise it and there are no means for them to communicate directly. This makes treachery a lot more difficult.

"Their masterwork all, you can't go wrong"

Awesome you love Dragon's Dogma as well, i love Gran Soren and your insight in it is really amazing, looking forward in the next part!

i know this video is old, but i want to answer to minute 3:30 No, the overhang of that Towers makes sense! See that the Basement of the tower is conic to fix the weight issue of building a tower that tall. So the extra overhang lets defenders just drop stones instead of throwing a meter to avoid hitting the towers basement. And on Walls they (overhangs) are for a diffrent angle for ladders. it is more psychic disadvantage for the attacker if the ladder is so far away of the majority of the wall. I hope you guys understand my bad english and what i tried to say.

Tho its in ruins, Gran Soren actually has an extra wall outside, you’ll see many bandits using it. So Gran Soren has clearly seen war (Pawns seem to imply it as well)

Listening to Shad get excited about murder holds and portcullises and vaulted ceilings fills me with joy. He's just so adorable!

If you ever do like a fortification appreciation video I'd recommend the real life Old City of Jerusalem, I think back in the 80's the IDF tried to blast a hole in the wall (with modern explosives) but failed to.

I love this guys infectious enthusiasm! XD

Excellent as always. I wonder though if the square towers (4:13) aren't pushed forward enough to provide an effective flanking fire to the walls and other towers. They are extended out less than half of their total depth and only provide room for a small number of archers who would have the correct angle for supporting fire. Just my thought, and I'm certainly no expert.

He's not being overly dramatic it's just who he is. Never change Shad.

Old vid I know, but since I'll watching some full playlists I thought of adding comment I love how bad the audio is at times. it sounds like the audio recordings inside 80-90's toys, specially on long vocals (specially on "ooh's" and "aaah's") or the audio on early 90's PC games XD it made me laugh, legit. no harm feeling with this comment.

I recently played this game for the first time since i was a kid that dident understand english or quests, and I was fucking AMAZED when i came to The city! Its just amazing on every lvl! Its HUGE for a video game city, so many houses and People and the attention to detail is just perfect ❤️ In The old games People REALLY CARED about details more then today...

If there is one thing I've seen every single castle in games that I dislike is that there is a torch every few meters.

Seeing your character running along the walls with battlements on one side and a drop to the death on the other, I can't shake off the feeling that we're missing out a part in medieval wall design: balustrades (and yes, I got the idea from Lindybeige). Whenever I visit a castle (last one was the São Jorge Castle in Lisbon) and climb up these (from a modern perspective surprisingly) steep stairs, I get very uncomfortable. Even if there are modern handrails set into the walls. I know that the steps are worn down over time and are much more wobbly, round-edged and generelly more slippery than back at the time but still. Even if in good shape and dry, people back then with their not-so-grippy soles, must have had a hard time climbing those stairs. And staying on top of the walls after. I'd be much happier with some firm wood on the other side.

I was about to ask Shad to review this castle and lord and behold, he already did two videos last year. Good thing I checked first.

1:34 i love how shad is talking about how realistic the game is, while an npc glitches over a rock 😂

I don't think we should assume that the game developers don't understand the use of machicolations. It could be that they know what they're for but decided to leave them filled in to have a simpler 3D model and improve performance. After all machicolations aren't something you'd really notice unless you were looking for them.

"Wolves hunt in packs!" "Snow Harpies!"Me: They wont... stop... *talking*! 'Chucks pawn off of cliff'"Soaked to the bone!"Me: ARRRRGGGHHH!

It would be really cool if you did a run down review at the end saying if the castle would survive an in game attack. Realistic army sizes based on in the game consistencies with populations and technology. I was feel like a pass or no pass grade is needed to grade the castle after you perfectly nit pick it through out the video. I love love love these vids man. Perfection but an ending summary is needed

Funny, played through this game about a month ago, and while doing it I was walking around Gran Soren analyzing it with what I've learned watching this channel. Also do Cloud Ruler Temple from Onlibion, since they say in the game that "few can defend against many" (paraphrasing)

Finally its getting some recognition. My favourite game too

Probably my favourite video game video just because of how excited Shad gets 😂👌🏻

The thing I found quite odd was the little braziers bolted onto the outside wall of the main gatehouse towers. Miles away from any windows, so they must be a bugger to light and refuel...

Ah, Gran Soren. The beating heart of all Gransys.

I love this game too - JUST picked it up by chance and it's brilliant to play! There is rumour of DD2!

Soooo much done right in dragon's dogma, but many of the blunders that do exist are so obvious! It hurts my brain trying to figure out how they could understand defensive structures so well and still somehow not understand defensive structures. My guess is that some of the missing features were probably left out intentionally to reduce strain on our computers, like all the additional portcullises along that death gauntlet. One or two portcullises doesn't seem like much, but when you add them up with machicolations, inward-facing battlements, and all the other features they missed, it becomes a pretty decent number of polygons. Maybe we're meant to imagine the rest. Or perhaps it just came down to different teams with differing levels of knowledge working on different parts (*Cough* The keep). I kinda wish I was skilled enough to create a mod that adds in some finishing touches. As for the keep... If you value your sanity, just don't go inside. Just... don't. P.S. I doubt you'll even see this comment since the video is quite old, but what are your thoughts on other structures in Dogma, such as Windbluff Tower and Bluemoon Tower?

i'll need shad to cover the new structures on DD II, the cycle must continue!

Shade got really emotional during this video. I think he hasn't seen a portrayal of an ingame citadel this accurate.

Thank you for taking my suggestion and taking a look at this castle (or maybe you were going to review it anyway...).

Machicolations!!! The great wall has it on the gate part, but it can only seen when aiming a bow.

Sees dragons dogma in title, instantly likes :P

Can you comment on the ruined bandit fort in the south of the map and maybe the other forts as well...

this game is amazing if you consider where it came from. it came from a Japanese company as their first attempt at a western style RPG. There's a lot of things they get right that other games haven't with their 5th installment (looking at you skyrim and dragon age. Okay, dragon age at the time only had 2 under it's belt, but still), and do so awesomely and anything that was done wrong or fell short on, like voice over quality and story, I waved off as their trial crossing cultural barriers with different theatrical tropes. Considering what they had to break through culturally this game, it's one of the greatest games of all time. its a shame it didn't get more recognition

Dragon's Dogma now has a series on Netflix.

I think there could be a reason for the lack of machicolations in game castles. Many holes like that add extra not really needed geometry seeing as the castle's defences will never be used for their purpose and also cut down on occlusion calculations when looking through that many holes.

Subbed and liked the moment you said this is your favorite game ^^

I imagine a lot of the "unfinished" inaccessible areas are a result of the game actually BEING unfinished. What we got, as good as it is, is only about 60% of the planned game. I cannot WAIT for a properly finished product for Dragon's Dogma II. They're masterworks all, you can't go wrong. 🤘😎👍