Dragon's Dogma 2: Should you take the Oxcart to Vernworth?
After winning Ser Gregor's trust, he's happy to let you continue on towards Vernworth at your own pace. But should you stick with your knightly escort?
Dragon's Dogma 2 doesn't really have a defined prologue questline, but there's definitely a point where the game's minimal tutorialistic hand-holding comes to an end. While travelling from Melve to Vernworth in the company of Ser Gregor, an intense combat encounter along the way prompts him to reassess his doubts about your honesty, and he offers to let you and your party of pawns continue on your journey unescorted.
It's the first time that DD2 offers you something that feels like a branching choice along its main storyline, and if you've found yourself literally standing at this fork in the path wondering which road to travel, you're not alone. Worry not though: we've seen both outcomes, so we're here to offer you a glimpse into your potential futures, if you'd like to know what you're in for when making this choice.
As with all quest walkthroughs, beware story spoilers from here on in, albeit minor ones in this instance.
Should you take the Oxcart to Vernworth in Dragon's Dogma 2?
Despite appearing like it might result in a branch in the storyline, ultimately taking the oxcart or continuing on foot have the same outcome: you'll get to Vernworth sooner or later and pick up the main questline once you get there.
The difference is that taking the oxcart can be used as a fast travel option, as well as being slightly easier on your still presumably quite low-level Arisen. While oxcarts aren't completely immune to random combat encounters along the road, you'll likely only experience one or two along the way, as opposed to what feels like every few steps if you take the long route. You'd also be quite unlucky to run into more than one mini-boss at the outside, whereas the path to Vernworth is full of big jerks eager to harass pedestrians.
You can even doze off in the oxcart if you like, which transports you pretty much immediately to Vernworth (though you might get woken up for one combat encounter along the way), although the trade-off in that case is that areas you pass through while sleeping don't get uncovered on your map.
So why would you want to continue on foot instead? Well, if you're big into the exploration side of the game, then obviously taking the scenic route to your next major objective gives you ample opportunity to poke into every nook and cranny along the way. Your pawns will likely point you towards a number of interesting landmarks, treasure chests, and resource farming locations; and the frequency of combat means you stand to enter Vernworth two or three levels higher than if you skipped straight to the next story beat.
It's worth noting that there are no inns to rest at along the road from Melve to Vernworth, though, so you're taking your party's lives (and your save) into your own hands if you decide to go it alone. You can make camp at various points along the way which allows you to restore health, but doesn't create a firm back-up save like an inn, and doesn't have the guaranteed safety of one either, although raids on campsites are far rarer than random combat out in the wilds. The big risk is that the procedural world will spawn in two mini-bosses in a row between campsites, which can be a barrier to progress if your party comes to the second encounter still feeling the effects of the first.
Ultimately it's your choice whether to take the oxcart or not, based on a combination of how you like to play the game, whether you feel that your party is prepared to potentially take on a few in-game days of travel alone on a dangerous road, and how eager you are to see the next story-beat.
If you're still struggling to decide, though, it might help you to know that you will be returning to Melve periodically throughout the story, with one quest later on in the game specifically requiring you to retrace your journey there from Vernworth. I used this opportunity to properly explore that section of the map once my party had levelled up a few times in the comparative safety of the city and it worked out well, so that's a tried-and-tested approach to take if you're stuck.
While we're talking choices in Dragon's Dogma 2, you might like to know how character creation secretly affects your stats. We've also got guidance on choosing your starting vocation in Dragon's Dogma 2, and how to unlock the high-tier Mystic Spearhand vocation further down the line as well.