Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen Catch-All

You can change your class at the inn in Gran Soren.

ibdoomed wrote:

Arg! Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to only allow one character?! I'd like to try out a ranger but don't want to wipe my warrior out. This is really turning into a regrettable purchase.

Is your character tied into your PSN account or your PS3 user? You could try creating a new user and firing up the game that way, works with some games, might with Dragon's Dogma.

I've been considering doing that myself. I know you can change classes but I generally like to have fresh starts for new classes in games, even when class changes are allowed.

That is a really bad philosophy in this game. Half of the point is gathering cross-class abilities to augment whatever class you decide to settle on for good. And six of the nine classes aren't available at character creation...

That really boggles my mind. I love that you can experiment with other classes without losing your actual progress. I hate that western developers refuse to embrace systems like that.

Play how you want, in any case. Just know that your preference is counter to how the game was designed, and you may have problems later on with the difficulty because of that.

Blind_Evil wrote:

That is a really bad philosophy in this game. Half of the point is gathering cross-class abilities to augment whatever class you decide to settle on for good. And six of the nine classes aren't available at character creation...

That really boggles my mind. I love that you can experiment with other classes without losing your actual progress. I hate that western developers refuse to embrace systems like that.

Play how you want, in any case. Just know that your preference is counter to how the game was designed, and you may have problems later on with the difficulty because of that.

Oh don't get me wrong, I love the system, and I've been class hopping on my main character a fair bit. But I don't imagine I'll be checking out the magic classes beyond the magick archer, or any of the deeper warrior classes, simply because at that point I feel like I'm diluting the concept of my character, and I probably won't need many of the augments from those classes anyway.

I'd really like to try out the mage/sorcerer/mystic knight at some point, but probably won't get a chance with my main anytime soon, if at all.

Edit: I agree by the way, that more Western developers should be pushing the envelope a bit with class systems. The Secret World has a system that's actually really similar to Dragon's Dogma now I think of it, and I'd love to see more of these free-form class systems in other RPGs.

Redwing wrote:

But I don't imagine I'll be checking out the magic classes beyond the magick archer, or any of the deeper warrior classes, simply because at that point I feel like I'm diluting the concept of my character, and I probably won't need many of the augments from those classes anyway.

You might not need many of the augments from the other vocations, but some of them are really useful. The mage/sorceror augments that reduce magic damage taken can be good for any class, and I'm currently tempted to swap back to Strider and grind out the last level because the augment that lets you move as though you were one weight class lighter would be super useful for my heavily armoured Mystic Knight.

The last bubble of any class rank does take a while, but the augments are generally worth it. Check what you get and decide if it'll be valuable to whatever your main class is.

Is your character tied into your PSN account or your PS3 user? You could try creating a new user and firing up the game that way, works with some games, might with Dragon's Dogma.

This works, I had a friend log into his account on my PS3 and play.

I really like the class system. At this point i'm trying to get the last few things in Sorcerer but the discipline points seem to have slowed down quite a bit. I feel like maybe I should switch vocation because i'm already at rank 9 sorcerer, but I really would like the last two augments. What are other people's strategies for vocation leveling?

Edit: I meant rank 9 not 8.

I first was a bit supprised to read some of you died a lot or had at least some serious difficulties. I started the game as a fighter at the beginning as i maxed this class out i changed to Mystic Knight and maxed this class out too. So i decided to change to strider last weekend and was a bit confused to not being able to block with this class. all of a sudden the gameplay changed for me and i had to be more carefull and make sure to avoid any strikes. at this point i was glad to have a much higher level character which had a decent amount of hitpoints. otherwise i would sure die a lot in certain situations.

so i assume most ouf you played as strider/ranger or even mage/sorcerer? Or maybe i just concentrated to much on sidequests and exploring the world?

to make sure i do not miss anything i alway explore a lot of the surroundings (just to give you an idea. i spent like 2 to 3 hours just in the first town before i even got out. now imagine Gran Soren...) and thankfully this game rewards you for this. you get a lot of items and equipment for free and you save a lot of gold this way (but still dont have enough at this point ). And since you meet many enemies while doing this out in the world you even get a lot of EXP along the way. So i always feel more like i am way to overpowered. I am glad to have finished all side quest currently available and finally concentrate more on the main story.

Yeah, the game does not scale at all (well, there is an exception), so the point of al the traveling is to help level you up. The first time you see the big beasties, you run away or it's an epic fight. By the end, I was seeking them out.

Neko wrote:

so i assume most ouf you played as strider/ranger or even mage/sorcerer? Or maybe i just concentrated to much on sidequests and exploring the world?

My guy was a Mystic Knight most of the time, Ranger otherwise. I detailed it up thread somewhere, but I felt like Mystic Knight was the most versatile fighter in the game.

Aristophan wrote:

Yeah, the game does not scale at all (well, there is an exception), so the point of al the traveling is to help level you up. The first time you see the big beasties, you run away or it's an epic fight. By the end, I was seeking them out.

Yep. I still remember seeing a Chimera for the first time in the wild, thinking "Oooooh sh*t." Now I'm trying the quest where you kill three Chimera, and I just wandered a spot that I could have sworn I fought one at before yet he seems strangely absent.

As for the Strider lacking a block, you do get to unlock a dodge. However, a Strider's melee combat is usually better in support of Fighter characters. Lots of weaker but faster strikes. If you do spend a lot of time in melee I'd advise using the Implicate ability (I believe that's the name), which sends strings out, grabs foes and pulls them to the ground. Every time I'm having trouble with the game it is because I haven't played in a while and forgot all about it, and then I become bad ass again.

Otherwise, primary focus should be on archery. Was it five-fold flurry that I have? Yeah, that sounds right. Perfect for Cyclops.

Which reminds me, another ability Striders evidently have while climbing beasties, in addition to Hundred Kisses, is Dodge.

The affinity system is dumb.

Spoiler:

So I didn't want to deal with Duchess Crazypants again on my second playthrough, so I decided to romance Mercedes. Gave her gallons of cloudwine, did her escort quest, and after her duel I gave her the Arisen's Bond, which is supposed to bind us together forever or something. Then, I went and did the Deny Salvation quest at the Greatwall. When I got back to Gran Soren I discovered that the armorer was gone. Where the hell did he go?

Oh.
Crap.

I had also maxed out my affinity with him, and he was the last person I talked to. Dragon Logic apparently dictates that the last person you talked to with max affinity is obviously your One True Love. Of course I talked to him last! He buys all my crap and upgrades my gear! I talk to him more than all other NPCs combined! So the girl I courted with wine, protected from monsters, and gave a friggin' one-of-a-kind magic wedding ring is just a fling or something, and the glorified vending machine is my soulmate because I gave him a silver idol and talked to him a lot. Makes perfect sense.

The worst part? Now I can't upgrade my gear in Gran Soren.

muttonchop wrote:

The affinity system is dumb.

Spoiler:

So I didn't want to deal with Duchess Crazypants again on my second playthrough, so I decided to romance Mercedes. Gave her gallons of cloudwine, did her escort quest, and after her duel I gave her the Arisen's Bond, which is supposed to bind us together forever or something. Then, I went and did the Deny Salvation quest at the Greatwall. When I got back to Gran Soren I discovered that the armorer was gone. Where the hell did he go?

Oh.
Crap.

I had also maxed out my affinity with him, and he was the last person I talked to. Dragon Logic apparently dictates that the last person you talked to with max affinity is obviously your One True Love. Of course I talked to him last! He buys all my crap and upgrades my gear! I talk to him more than all other NPCs combined! So the girl I courted with wine, protected from monsters, and gave a friggin' one-of-a-kind magic wedding ring is just a fling or something, and the glorified vending machine is my soulmate because I gave him a silver idol and talked to him a lot. Makes perfect sense.

The worst part? Now I can't upgrade my gear in Gran Soren.

Spoiler:

I made sure to punch everyone else but my love interest before the dragon took them. You get arrested but honestly there aren't any consequences to that.

Also as a side I let the Duke kill the Duchess and you still get arrested as soon as you go for the door. Then the game plays exactly the same as if you stop the Duke.

There are love interests in this game?

Terrific read muttonchop!

Spoiler:

What will you do when the dragon forces you to choose?

Aristophan wrote:

Terrific read muttonchop!

Spoiler:

What will you do when the dragon forces you to choose?

I'm kind of screwed either way.

Spoiler:

If I save him he'll just try to move in with me in Cassardis so either way my vendor in Gran Soren is gone. Also, I think Selene already moved into my house so things could get a bit awkward what with there being only a single bed and all.

Easy mode added?

A new patch announced for the Japanese version of Dragon's Dogma will put "easy mode" in the options menu of the game, allowing players to switch over at any time. Capcom didn't specify the exact differences in easy mode, leaving us free to speculate that it removes one head from all multi-headed mythical monsters.

The patch will be released in Japan on August 6. Capcom has not announced plans for the rest of the world yet.

A bit of Dragon's Dogma news has surfaced at TGS. Over the rest of this year, supposedly, two new modes will be added - hard mode and speedrun mode. They're about what you'd expect, with hardmode offering tougher enemies and better rewards, and speedrun awarding unique items for reaching milestones in time.

The bigger news is that of a full expansion due to arrive in 2013 tentatively called Dark Arisen. Considering how interesting (if ham-fisted) the narrative got toward the end of the game, I'm interested to see what they produce. A big draw of the game for me was the job system, so a few new vocations would be welcome. No word yet if that's in the cards.

Looking at how the year has shaken out, this is likely a lock for my top five, unless some games really surprise me over the next two months (Dishonored, XCOM).

I need to get back to Dragon's Dogma. I've taken a bit of a break, think I burned myself out on it for a while, but once I'm through with Darksiders 2 I might be willing to jump in and continue on with my journey.

I actually recently picked this back up into my current gaming rotation, and it's been fun to get back into it. Definitely still one of the top games of the year, in a year that's been quite generous so far with top-notch gaming experiences!

I'm going to start playing this in the next couple of days. Any tips for starting off, and generally recommended approaches to getting the most fun out of the game?

1. Get to the big, main city as soon as possible. That's when you unlock vocations (I use the term interchangeably with "class"), and that system combined with the combat is the big draw.

2. Experiment with every vocation. Progress in each class can be somewhat transferred between other classes, so there's no such thing as wasted experience.

3. When you're asked to escort a young girl, maybe consult a FAQ on what to do, or ask us here. That'll make sense when you get there.

I'm sure if I had played more recently than June I'd have more to say. Alas. If you have any questions feel free.

This game is still on my radar for after I finish Dark Souls.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

This game is still on my radar for after I finish Dark Souls.

Tis but a dream for me. Finishing Dark Souls, that is.

I actually played again just yesterday, friend me up Mr. Cheese, I'm Yndigo on PSN, you can then use my badass warrior pawn, Khardan. He's setup to be a bit of a tank, he's a two-hand warrior at the moment, but he's still made of iron and generally has survivability focused augments in his setup.

DSGamer wrote:
Fedaykin98 wrote:

This game is still on my radar for after I finish Dark Souls.

Tis but a dream for me. Finishing Dark Souls, that is.

I'm getting damn close, but I think I'm going to do the DLC first, which will slow me down. But of course, this is all better discussed in the Dark Souls thread.

Redwing wrote:

I actually played again just yesterday, friend me up Mr. Cheese, I'm Yndigo on PSN

At the risk of speaking out of turn, I think 4d will be playing on 360.

4d, regarding pawns: If someone's on your friend list you can use theirs for free, but the fee for using others is either zero (at the same level as you) or nominal (up to five levels ahead). You'll always have your own main pawn, but swap the others out frequently for both level and party makeup reasons. They don't level so if you hire one at level 40 then get to 45 they'll still be 40, and you'll be able to get new level 45 ones for free.

Another thing to note: sorcerers can't heal, wizards only.

Blind_Evil wrote:
Redwing wrote:

I actually played again just yesterday, friend me up Mr. Cheese, I'm Yndigo on PSN

At the risk of speaking out of turn, I think 4d will be playing on 360.

Ahh of course. For some reason my brain had this misfiled in PS3 exclusives. The rest of my brain knows better, so I'm not sure why it didn't update my subconcious before it retrieved that information. Stupid brain.

Blind_Evil wrote:
Redwing wrote:

I actually played again just yesterday, friend me up Mr. Cheese, I'm Yndigo on PSN

At the risk of speaking out of turn, I think 4d will be playing on 360.

Blind is unfortunately correct in this regard. Thanks, all, for the advice, and I will let you know how it goes.

Dragon's Dogma is awesome and a game I still want to sink some solid time into. Winter is coming, and that is the season of my epic gaming sessions.