Netflix's Dragon's Dogma can be a polarizing anime or show even for fans who have played the video game, Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen. For some, the show might have gotten a little too devoted to its video game roots and stuck to a simple plot that usually only works in a different and more interactive form of entertainment.

RELATED: Castlevania: 10 Most Evil Characters In Season 3, Ranked

That isn't to say they didn't make the appropriate changes for narrative integrity. They're there alright, it's just that even some of those changes weren't for the better, and lots of fans would agree. There were instances where Netflix's Dragon's Dogma should have just left the game's certain aspects intact since that would have likely made for a stronger show. So here are five things that changed in the show and five others that shouldn't have to prove the point.

CHANGED: THE DRAGON

Dragon’s Dogma Anime Is Coming To Netflix Soon

The dragon in the video game was a little more "human" since the players soon discover that it actually has a name-- Grigori which implies that it was once a human or someone sentient and bipedal. Meanwhile, the dragon in the show may or may not have a name; it wasn't discussed there and it only served as an antagonist.

Both have their benefits and disadvantages. On one hand, making the dragon unnamed hid some shock value reserved for the ending of the show. On the other hand, it made the dragon look like a generic evil bad guy who's just randomly cruel.

WISH HADN'T CHANGED: THE CHARACTERS

A man holding a sword while an armored woman stands next to him in Dragon's Dogma

It's understandable for the protagonist to be generic since that spot was reserved for the players in the game. This made Hannah the only memorable character in the show who actually had a spotlight. What's puzzling is that the game already had its own intriguing (though less developed) cast of characters that they could have used to complement Ethan and Hannah's adventure.

RELATED: Castlevania: 10 Most Complex Characters, Ranked

Anything from Madeleine to even the weird King of Gran Soren could have helped in making the world feel a lot more alive or involved. Heck, even bringing in some Berserk-inspired characters such as Selene or Mercedes Marten could have added more to the show either through exposition or having someone else to root for other than Ethan or Hannah.

CHANGED: PROTAGONIST'S MOTIVATION

dragons-dogma-anime

In the video game, Grigori, the dragon merely swoops down on Cassardis and quickly selects an Arisen to toy with and then leaves. The Arisen in the game also has no attachments and the dragon also did not burn down all of Cassardis. The only motivation for the Arisen to go after the dragon was their heart.

This got more complicated in Netflix's Dragon's Dogma since the dragon there not only obliterated Cassardis and murdered countless civilians but it also killed the Arisen's pregnant wife and foster son. This adds another layer of goal to the Arisen's quest and made him more vengeful.

WISH HADN'T CHANGED: BURNING OF CASSARDIS

dragons dogma featured

While Cassardis was more of a prop in the show and something that only existed to be burned down by the dragon, it's quite an important landmark in the video game. Not only are there lots of memories in that place but it also serves as a great way to provide exposition and context to the players.

RELATED: Castlevania: Top 10 Sypha Belnades Cosplays

Such purpose would have worked the same for the show seeing as the introduction of the Arisen "curse" and the pawns feel a little too rushed. Besides, there was no need for the dragon to burn all of Cassardis. The result was that the show's world feels devoid of other inhabitants which wouldn't have been bad if Hannah and Ethan had better chemistry.

CHANGED: ARISEN POWERS

Dragon's Dogma anime on Netflix

Again in the video game, the Arisen's power is pretty much the same as everyone else's, including his pawns. Sometimes even his pawns can become more powerful than him with the right setup or if the Arisen decides to play the support role. The only perk the Arisen has is the power to summon pawns and being ageless because of the heart-theft.

In Netflix's Dragon's Dogmait's slightly different. On top of the benefits of getting one's heart stolen by an evil dragon, the Arisen also appears to have some sort of berserker rage ability where he gets riled up and jacked up depending on his emotional state. It made him powerful enough to kill a hydra and the dragon on his own.

WISH HADN'T CHANGED: THE ENDING

dragon's dogma netflix

Turns out the Arisen's extra berserker powers are actually him showing symptoms of turning into the very thing he hates, which is the dragon. That's what happened in the ending of the show, Ethan was destined to replace the dragon all along and continue the cycle anew because... because!

RELATED: D&D Moral Alignments Of The Castlevania Main Characters

Anyway, it's tragic and might even be disappointing for some. That's why the showrunners should have considered one of the multiple endings of the game where one of them even leads to godhood or something happier than turning into a dragon and losing humanity for vague reasons.

CHANGED: PAWN BEHAVIOR

hannah dragon's dogma

Now, since Hannah is the only pawn given to Ethan and most episodes are usually just these two going on misadventures, it's only natural for the showrunners to make her more talkative, relatively. That's because pawns aren't supposed to have their own free will and only exist to follow the Arisen's orders or to protect them.

Hannah throughout the show has developed to display more emotions and even blurt out more opinions or sometimes words of wisdom too. By the end of the show, she has become her own person. Pawns in the game simply don't have the capacity to do this, making Hannah an isolated case that's necessary for a more compelling narrative.

WISH HADN'T CHANGED: PARTY SIZE

Journeying with Pawns in Dragon's Dogma

Ethan and Hannah are barely a party since there's just two of them and they don't really share a believable bond or have any banter that lets them develop as characters. It's like this in the show as well-- pawns don't really talk much and when they do, it's usually just tactical information.

RELATED: 15 Shows To Watch If You Like Castlevania

Still, the show could have just stuck to the four-man party format and added two more interesting adventurers to the mix, maybe even Simon or Balthazar. Perhaps they could have even added more pawns but also took liberties with their emotions and ideals-- anything to make the viewers more invested in the protagonists or the adventure.

CHANGED: LOCATIONS

Quina and Arisen before dragon attack Dragons Dogma

While the people who played Dragon's Dogma would definitely recognize Cassardis, any other location is just a generic town or dungeon or mountain-- some of which don't even have names. There wasn't even a forest episode which was odd considering a good part of the game takes place in a mystical forest.

In any case, it seems that with the number of episodes they were allowed or maybe time and budget constraints, the locations from the game have mostly been ignored or scrapped in favor of a faster pace or sticking to the episodic themes.

WISH HADN'T CHANGED: PROTAGONIST'S JOURNEY

Fighter beats goblins in Dragon's Dogma

The change in locations might actually have deterred from a stronger and more cohesive fantasy world because the Dragon's Dogma's Gransys is littered with interesting locales that would have been awesome playgrounds in a fantasy anime or show.

Even an arc featuring Gran Soren, the capital city of Gransys, ought to be interesting as it's full of political or even philosophical opportunities and would have enhanced Ethan's journey to the dragon. What we got in the show instead was Ethan and Hannah beelining straight to the Tainted Mountain for an anticlimactic boss fight and unrewarding ending.

NEXT: 10 Most Powerful Monsters In The Castlevania Games, Ranked