Once players get a couple of hours into Dragon's Dogma 2 (or even in the first hour, depending on what items they pick up) they'll notice that the passage of time actually matters quite a bit in this game.
Not only do certain quests progress by themselves after a certain amount of time has passed, to give players a sense of a 'missed opportunity', but food and other items can also have a missed window of opportunity to use them as well. To be more specific, most food items in this game can absolutely 'rot' or 'spoil' if left sitting in your bag for too long. So, to prevent having to constantly keep track of how close your apples are to rotting in Dragon's Dogma 2, let's go over the easiest ways to mitigate or avoid this system entirely.
Method 1: Item Combination
Making Use of Items Before They're 'Past Their Prime'
This is the primary method you're meant to use to avoid items spoiling and the one the game incentivizes the most, the Item Combination system. Players can combine different materials together in Dragon's Dogma 2, either by just freely experimenting with different combinations or by selecting different known recipes.
Combined items (typically) don't spoil and even if they did combining them would actively reset the spoiling timer anyway. So if you notice you never really manage to use your apples, grapes, or meat in time before it spoils, then just combine them as soon as you pick them up. For one, this is simply a better usage of these items overall, as the combination items are usually better than using the ingredients individually. And two, this also helps reduce the constant micromanaging of your Encumbrance, as combining a bunch of items will usually reduce your total current weight by a noticeable amount. Additionally, having a Pawn in the party with the Logistician Specialization (Specialization, not Inclination) will make this even easier as they'll passively combine items that are close to spoiling on their own.
Method 2: Using The Item Storage
Apparently, It's an Item Crate That Ignores the Concept of Time
As for the second method, this is one that people have been a bit confused about since the game came out. In Dragon's Dogma 2, Item Storage absolutely prevents items from spoiling as long as they haven't already spoiled when they're placed inside. Originally at the time of writing this, the game was so new that it was hard to tell if the items in storage were still degrading at a reduced rate or not degrading at all. Thankfully, it does answer this in-game with the Tutorial for Item Storage mentioning that "items that would grow stale or rotten in your pack will be kept fresh for as long as they are stored." If you missed this tutorial when it first popped up, remember that you can access the Tutorial Logbook to take a look at any past tutorial at any time through the History menu option.
So, it's a good idea to send all items that would expire into your storage, stockpile them, and combine them all in one big batch later on. You can even technically do this while out and about exploring too if you just put everything that can spoil onto one Pawn and then dismiss that Pawn. Doing this will send everything that this Pawn was carrying (AKA the items that can spoil) into your Item Storage automatically, which can be a huge help when you're in the middle of nowhere with no Ox Cart or Inn in sight.
Method 3: The Stasis Augment
Whether It's Your Arisen That Has It or Your Pawn
For the last method, it turns out there's actually an Augment in Dragon's Dogma 2 that makes it so that food spoils at a much slower rate. Oddly enough, it's on Sorcerers who spend most of their time floating around, and it's called the Stasis Augment. This Augment, when unlocked (at Rank 4) and equipped, makes it so that anything that can spoil in the Sorcerer's inventory will do so much slower. It's hard to say exactly how much slower, but it's a very noticeable amount.
And, the best part is, you can just make a Pawn a Sorcerer (or even hire one) and make them you're pack mule as long as they have this Augment equipped. This way, you're not shoehorned into playing Sorcerer just to keep apples fresh. However, remember that once an Augment has been purchased using Discipline Points, you can equip it on any Vocation, so getting Stasis unlocked means you have it permanently with any class.
Dragon's Dogma 2
Platform(s)
PC , PS5 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S
Released
March 22, 2024
Developer(s)
Capcom
Genre(s)
Action RPG
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