Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen Catch-All

Hey I'll hire him! He'll make a beautiful couple with my Bertie

il dottore wrote:

Hey I'll hire him! He'll make a beautiful couple with my Bertie ;)

I can't see your pawn yet Il Dottore, I saw ccesarano's and Aristophan's, but they were level 36 and seemed a bit above my paygrade.

Anything you need to do to be sure your Pawn is, er... listed, for want of a better word?

I couldn't see yours either last night, hmmm... Experts, are we missing something?
Oh and btw it's free to hire friend's pawns, so you could go ahead and hire the two steamrollers.

Redwing wrote:

Well I've created my pawn, and while he does look like a serial killer, he's really a top bloke I assure you. Going to make him a stout fighter sort to take a lot of punishment, assuming I can tailor his stats somewhat.

I think that their stats are based on their physical characteristics. Big characters are slower but stronger, etc. That's why Puffin's an Amazon: I like my mages durable.

LobsterMobster wrote:
Redwing wrote:

Well I've created my pawn, and while he does look like a serial killer, he's really a top bloke I assure you. Going to make him a stout fighter sort to take a lot of punishment, assuming I can tailor his stats somewhat.

I think that their stats are based on their physical characteristics. Big characters are slower but stronger, etc. That's why Puffin's an Amazon: I like my mages durable.

Huh, that's interesting, I didn't realise that! My main character is probably ok then, she's also a bit of an Amazon, but I may have done my gruff buddy a little differently having known that, ahh well.

Anyway, I've just put about 4 hours or so into the game and would keep going if I didn't need to sleep. First impressions are really good. It feels very Dark Souls, but a lot more approachable. The pawn system is also really cool, I love some of the ideas that we're seeing come out of console oriented RPGs, I hope some of these great ideas start insinuating their way into more mainstream Western RPGs.

Blind_Evil wrote:

Where are you in the story? Most of the large collection quests carryover regardless of the phase you're in.

Spoiler:

At Gran Soren, having just done the many quests for the Duke and am about to meet him for the first time. I translated the one item, did the research expedition into Water God's Altar, took back Shadow Fort and all those others right before you meet him.

Redwing wrote:
il dottore wrote:

Hey I'll hire him! He'll make a beautiful couple with my Bertie ;)

I can't see your pawn yet Il Dottore, I saw ccesarano's and Aristophan's, but they were level 36 and seemed a bit above my paygrade.

Anything you need to do to be sure your Pawn is, er... listed, for want of a better word?

Go ahead and use Gadwin. He's good at the healings.

I'm still messing around with some of his spell choices, actually. Or maybe I need to take him into the knowledge chair again. Sometimes it feels like he puts fire or ice on my weapons when I don't quite need it, and then when there are ghosts flying about he's not quite the best at killing them.

In fact, because of the less corporeal folk, I'm considering Mystic Archer to make sure I can basically take any sort of foe that might come my way.

You're good. I am two "finish your quests" prompts later and still have war bugle, seeker coin, crow, and rabbit quests.

Awesome.

I took Khardan to the knowledge chair, and he told me that he pipes up on topics or remains silent as the situation dictates, and asked me if he should keep that up. "Uh, sure..." I said, which he took to mean that I wanted him to talk even more. Noooo!

Yeah, the wording on some of those questions is just terrible.

LobsterMobster wrote:

I think that their stats are based on their physical characteristics. Big characters are slower but stronger, etc.

To paraphrase the wiki: heavy characters have higher carrying weight, but also higher stamina usage, slower stamina regen and slower movement speed. They can also lift and throw heavier stuff. Tall characters also have longer reach but make for easier targets (plus tall characters are automatically heavier than shorter ones of course).
What a great touch. Too many games let you customize the look of a character without it having any effect whatsoever.

Redwing wrote:

I took Khardan to the knowledge chair, and he told me that he pipes up on topics or remains silent as the situation dictates, and asked me if he should keep that up. "Uh, sure..." I said, which he took to mean that I wanted him to talk even more. Noooo!

I actually kind of like it, makes me feel less lonely
I just wish they would take turns talking!

I believe I am close to wrapping up the quests before seeing the duke. Does anyone know if the "kill 10 wolves" quests gets discarded as well as the regular quests? Also... will this take me to another part of the world so I can't get back to this area? I guess I just don't want to miss on exploring the rest of the map.

I just met the Duke last night. I think what he's talking about are the other quests such as "Helping a Research Expedition" and such. In other words, the main story quests that precede meeting the Duke, which are evidently all optional. I have all the other quests, and it doesn't just teleport you to another part of Gransys. You'll still be using Gran Soren as the hub, and everything is still as accessible to you as it was in the beginning (as long as you can kill what is there).

This game is eating up more of my free time than anything since Skyrim, I picked it up on a complete whim, but I'm sure glad I did! It's seems to have a direct conduit to the happy button in my brain.

Still can't see your Pawn Il Dottore, not sure why, can see everyone else's... have you ran into mine yet?

Fredrik_S wrote:

I believe I am close to wrapping up the quests before seeing the duke. Does anyone know if the "kill 10 wolves" quests gets discarded as well as the regular quests? Also... will this take me to another part of the world so I can't get back to this area? I guess I just don't want to miss on exploring the rest of the map.

The "kill 10 goblins, etc" type quests carry over. It's the story-based ones you'll want to wrap up first.

Redwing wrote:

Still can't see your Pawn Il Dottore, not sure why, can see everyone else's... have you ran into mine yet?

Haven't played in the last 48 hours (had to get some sleep!), but I'll jump back in tonight (about 6h from now), hopefully I'll see him. Otherwise I'll try searching by name. Haven't been at the Pawn Guild yet, maybe that's why? Have you been there?

Redwing wrote:

This game is eating up more of my free time than anything since Skyrim, I picked it up on a complete whim, but I'm sure glad I did! It's seems to have a direct conduit to the happy button in my brain.

Yes, it's basically crack.

Apologies to anyone using my Nerissa - I'm going to be swapping around her class a lot while I try and max out every vocation. Should lead to some nice mixing and matching of augments later on, but it means she's often weak for her level when beginning each class.

I feel a little self-conscious with your pawn always being on display in this game. Like right now I just want to hide her while she levels up and then do a big reveal when I'm ready...

zeroKFE:

Spoiler:

About how long is the postgame? I've just arrived and am curious how far I have to go.

Crhis wrote:

I feel a little self-conscious with your pawn always being on display in this game. Like right now I just want to hide her while she levels up and then do a big reveal when I'm ready...

I know the feeling! I'm setting up Khardan to be a tank, but now that I know how the system works (and I love the system by the way!), I suspect the path to that will have some pretty gimped pit-stops.

Some advice I wish I'd known, so now you guys do:

Try to figure out your favorite class. Experiment all you want with others, but pick a favorite. And whenever you do major story quests, change to that favorite.

Blind_Evil wrote:

zeroKFE:

Spoiler:

About how long is the postgame? I've just arrived and am curious how far I have to go.

Spoiler:

It's sort of as long as you want it to be.

Not sure if you've made it back to Gran Soren yet, but once you do you'll have a few story events and then be given a quest to collect wakestones. It will sound insane, but the dungeon you will have access to will drop them like crazy. It's basically like thirteen or fourteen "chambers" each consisting of a couple respawning rooms with different enemy sets in them (and a few with vendors who sell the best gear in the game). You can start down the path to the finale as soon as you have the required number of wakestones, but you might want to spend a lot more time fighting all the monsters in the chambers, buying gear (hint: selling wakestones is probably the best way in the game to make money), and potentially reexploring the world. Only parts of it have new monsters though, mostly the parts between Cassardis and Gran Soren, but there are a few other surprises here and there as well.

Anyway, if you want to rush to new game plus (or to just being done with the game, you could probably do it in three or four hours. I personally spent at least twenty hours screwing around before I got curious to see what the real ending was like. As I said in an earlier spoiler, though, DON'T start the final sequence until you are well and truly done, and be sure to bring along the weird sword item you were given by the dragon.

Yeah, I've started the weird rooms.

Spoiler:

Killed the Evil Eye and two black chimeras, lost two of my pawns during the third. Up to 9 Wakestones now. Do you ever get weapons better than the stuff bestowed on whatever class you are when you enter the maw? I think Mystic Knight is my preferred class but I'm stuck with this Ranger gear that is too good to switch up, really. Meh! I suppose I could make my pawn a ranger and give it to her, maybe.

Also, what vendors do you mean? I saw one in the maw, but he just had weird stuff and a set of gold bracers.

Certis wrote:

The "kill 10 goblins, etc" type quests carry over. It's the story-based ones you'll want to wrap up first.

Thank you very much. I'm off to see the duke!

Three new special pawns appeared, and they all belong to major Japanese game industry folk that no one over here has likely heard of.

I find that amusing.

Also: I think I want to download this game's soundtrack.

ccesarano wrote:

Also: I think I want to download this game's soundtrack.

That opening song is getting stuck in my head. I don't know if I'm enjoying it or if it's Stockholm Syndrome.

Also, Yahtzee of Zero Punctuation has his review up. Expect plenty of snark.

Redwing and il dottore, I've picked up your pawns and I'm giving them the grand tour. So far we've killed a Griffin, an Ogre, and a whole bunch of oxen. Now we're venturing into the catacombs! You won't see any results until I've released them, which will be in the next day or two.

Aristophan wrote:

Redwing and il dottore, I've picked up your pawns and I'm giving them the grand tour. So far we've killed a Griffin, an Ogre, and a whole bunch of oxen. Now we're venturing into the catacombs! You won't see any results until I've released them, which will be in the next day or two.

Excellent, sounds like Khardan's getting a lot more done with you! If he gets out of line, just whop him on the nose with a rolled up newspaper.

Once I have the money for a greatsword, I'm going to make him a Warrior for a bit to get some new Augments, but I think I want him to ultimately stay as a Fighter, which seems a lot more tanky. I don't need to extra damage, since I've gone Ranger at the moment and do more than enough myself.

Currently he should be setup to protect you and the other pawns if I understand how the personality system works. Which I don't really, but I have a rough idea.

Aristophan wrote:

Redwing and il dottore, I've picked up your pawns and I'm giving them the grand tour. So far we've killed a Griffin, an Ogre, and a whole bunch of oxen. Now we're venturing into the catacombs! You won't see any results until I've released them, which will be in the next day or two.

Thanks, that's kind of you logging around two deadbeats to teach them something! God knows Bertie needs to learn a thing or two about fighting Ogres.
Unfortunately I think you have an older version of him (he's about lvl 15 now), I didn't realize I had to sleep at an Inn to download/upload him to the servers! It seemed logical to me that it would happen at the Rift...
I took Khardan for a spin as well, he finally popped up last night. Knew a couple useful things about the Everfall and managed to survive without my help. Pretty good dude, I just wish he wouldn't throw quite so many explosive barrels at me

And I've found Bertie! Giving him a run now, he sure is a scary looking fellow. It's great he's a mage actually, as the one I was using previously just wouldn't shut up...