Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen Catch-All

ianunderhill wrote:
Blind_Evil wrote:

The first Rift Stone you'll find is the the goal of quest you get as soon as you wake up after the intro fights. There are then stones in all the other major towns.

I found the one in the first town, where I gained a pawn called Rook and got the spiel about what pawns are, and then a second one at the encampment down the road, where I gained the pawn I created in the demo (Serfiriel). Didn't see the shuffling pawn dimension, though. I haven't gotten to play again since the wee hours right after I got the game. So do you figure I'm missing something, or was I just playing too early?

I think you need to press forward a little more. You'll go through a combat tutorial, a guy telling you to first move boxes around, then two rounds of killing straw-men. It might be after that, you can dismiss Rook, and take on two new pawns. Or it might be after the next story event, which takes place in that same encampment.

You get in there by just hitting B in front of the Rift Stone, though.

Blind_Evil wrote:

I think you need to press forward a little more. You'll go through a combat tutorial, a guy telling you to first move boxes around, then two rounds of killing straw-men. It might be after that, you can dismiss Rook, and take on two new pawns. Or it might be after the next story event, which takes place in that same encampment.

You get in there by just hitting B in front of the Rift Stone, though.

Must be a bit thereafter. I passed the combat tutorial - or rather, Rook and Serfiriel did. I was expecting to fail trying to pinpoint all the box locations, but they worked crazily fast and all was fine. Same with the two rounds of scarecrows. I fought the first big enemy after that, too.

B, huh? I'll give it a shot.

Really diggin' this game. It tries something new in the ARPG genre and while it's not perfect it's a blast to play. Really enjoying the challenging difficulty. Be sure to take my pawn for a jaunt, she's a good mage!

Fredrick_S, I summoned in your pawn. Do you need to pay more for pawns that are higher level than you? I'm level 6 and yours was level 12 and it cost me 120ish RC.

If you are on PS3 and want a pawn who knows how to be swallowed by a hydra, then I've got the guy for you!

I picked this up yesterday -- I am also TheHipGamer on XBox Live, and my pawn's name is Kiernan.

So far, it's a solid RPG; the world feels at least somewhat different from that of the Elder Scrolls or LoTR, and the comparisons to Dark Souls seem apt. The draw is undoubtedly the combat system, which is fluid and complex. At one point in the prologue, I hopped on top of a wall and took a flying leap at a goblin, hitting the "heavy attack" button as I came into range of his red little head. Not only did it work, but I cleaved him in two; these little touches keep the game from being just a button masher.

I'm in the early stages of the game, but the quests I have encountered are barely adequate. Would that the world never knew MMOs: in a single player game, I don't want to kill 5 goblins, collect 10 hare skins, or gather 6 flowers for the town healer. The game is essentially fun to play, and there is a sense (at least at this juncture) of a fairly wide world to explore, so I am hoping for more intriguing content as I leave the city in which you start the game proper. As an aside, there are some edge-of-world barriers around the ocean, but it's handled diegetically, which suggests that there won't be any of the nonsensical "Go home! The world ends here!" messages as we've seen in Skryim/Oblivion/Morrowind.

Graphics are a bit weak. The game isn't ugly, but some of the world textures are low-res enough to be noticeable, and there is a fair amount of tearing. Equally strange, the game presents itself in a letterbox style window that takes up about 80% of my screen; there are black bars on the top and bottom of the viewport, and there is no obvious way to disable them. Given the amount of tearing in evidence, I suspect this was a tradeoff for framerate, but it's disappointing and somewhat annoying.

TheHipGamer wrote:

I am hoping for more intriguing content as I leave the city in which you start the game proper.

I am at what I think is the main world hub, and while you still get those kinds of quests (kill 12 skeletons, 45 rabbits, etc), you shouldn't treat them as to-do's, so much as just know that they'll get done in the course of searching for the other kinds of quests (help the militia take a fort back from goblins, investigate a cultist base behind a waterfall, escorts, and even a little spying).

I'm finding money to be a bigger deal in Dragon's Dogma than most games. Equipment is expensive and if you want to use specialized classes you need certain pieces of gear. The starting magick shield for Mystic Knights, for example, is 14,000 or so gold. So, I would advise in the early going that you buy gear that isn't super specific to a certain class - rather than buying the more powerful mace that only a Mystic Knight can use, buy the broadsword that a Fighter and Assassin can also use, should you choose to switch yourself or your pawn down that path.

I've found the best way to make money is selling rings you find in the course of adventure.

Blind_Evil wrote:

I'm finding money to be a bigger deal in Dragon's Dogma than most games. Equipment is expensive and if you want to use specialized classes you need certain pieces of gear. The starting magick shield for Mystic Knights, for example, is 14,000 or so gold. So, I would advise in the early going that you buy gear that isn't super specific to a certain class - rather than buying the more powerful mace that only a Mystic Knight can use, buy the broadsword that a Fighter and Assassin can also use, should you choose to switch yourself or your pawn down that path.

I've found the best way to make money is selling rings you find in the course of adventure.

It's a refreshing change honestly. Too often in RPGs money is far too easy to come by. I'm level 19 now but I still feel like I've barely scratched the surface. How does changing classes work? I see there's a class affinity counter, and I'm pretty close to maxing out the fighter at this point.

HipGamer: The best way to treat those "goal" quests is basically achievements. Don't bother seeking them out, as they will likely complete themselves naturally over the course of your adventures. Most you don't even turn in, you just get your experience bonus and continue on with your day. The actual sidequests I've done so far have actually been pretty fleshy. I really dug the Pawn guild dungeon quest.

Stylez wrote:

It's a refreshing change honestly. Too often in RPGs money is far too easy to come by. I'm level 19 now but I still feel like I've barely scratched the surface. How does changing classes work? I see there's a class affinity counter, and I'm pretty close to maxing out the fighter at this point.

I agree about the money.

You change classes at any inn, under Change Vocation. You buy other classes from the same currency that you learn skills, 1000 for the other two basics, 1500 I believe for the other 6.

I don't believe skills that multiple classes learn transfer from one class to the other, which is a bummer I suppose.

Stylez wrote:

HipGamer: The best way to treat those "goal" quests is basically achievements. Don't bother seeking them out, as they will likely complete themselves naturally over the course of your adventures. Most you don't even turn in, you just get your experience bonus and continue on with your day. The actual sidequests I've done so far have actually been pretty fleshy. I really dug the Pawn guild dungeon quest.

Huh. Sounds pretty much like how Xenoblade works. Wonder if this is a growing trend in big-world RPG's in Japan?

I picked this up yesterday -- I am also TheHipGamer on XBox Live, and my pawn's name is Kiernan.

Anyone playing on Xbox should feel free to friend me up (link is in my signature) -- I have a pretty effective mage pawn who is level 22 (built for buffing, heals, and fairly strong magic attack). Assuming you pay the same prices to hire friend's pawns as you do random pawns in the world, it might be a bit price prohibitive to hire her until you are in the mid teens though, since the price seems to be based on the difference between your level and the pawns level.

You change classes at any inn, under Change Vocation. You buy other classes from the same currency that you learn skills, 1000 for the other two basics, 1500 I believe for the other 6.

Actually, I think you can only change once you are in the main city, at least as far as I've seen (I've returned to the starter camp and it didn't have the option, and found a "rest camp" out in the boonies that didn't either).

Incidentally, I've only just changed myself at level 22 or so (strider to ranger) even though I got the option around level 11 or 12 since I wanted some of the augments you unlock at the higher class ranks. I still haven't changed my pawn, since I want the augments from mage rank 9 before starting to work on other classes for her.

I don't believe skills that multiple classes learn transfer from one class to the other, which is a bummer I suppose.

Many do, actually -- if both classes can use the skill, learning it from one class makes it available to the other. The dagger skills I learned as a strider are available to me as a ranger (although I think the strider has a few more powerful dagger skills that the ranger does not have access to), as have the core skills that they have in common (such as the advanced versions of basic attacks and the double jump ability). However, I'm back to square one on bow skills since the strider uses short bows and the ranger long bows. (If I switched to an assassin, however, I believe I would be able to use most of my strider short bow skills there.)

Incidentally, totally loving the game so far. It has huge problems to be sure, but what it does right is really working for me, completely killing my desire to play the other games I have on deck right now (Diablo and Tera).

I had a question, actually.

So the first time I rested at an inn, that obviously uploaded my pawn to the servers.

The second time, I got what I expected -- a report that she had been off adventuring, a gift item, a review, and a report and the knowledge she had gained while away.

Every time since then though, it says she has been adventuring, I get 2 to 4 items, but I do NOT get a review or a report on the knowledge she gained. (I do get a small amount of RC, though.) I'm wondering if this is normal or a bug.

I could conceive that if someone is using your pawn for a while without sending them back you would get items, but you wouldn't get the review and knowledge boost until they were dismissed. I could also conceive that it is totally and completely broken.

Anyway, anyone have a similar experience?

The cost for hiring stronger pawns becomes a nonissue once yours has been hired a few times - mine came back with 3 jobs having totalled 6000ish rift crystals.

Didn't realize about skills, good to know.

I just didn't specify well enough about inns.

I just want to turn my pawn into a paladin: a tank that can heal. Is that possible?

LobsterMobster wrote:

I just want to turn my pawn into a paladin: a tank that can heal. Is that possible?

Not really, I'm afraid. According to this skill list only a mage can use the healing spells (Anodyne and Halidom basically). The mystic knight does have a skill that is close to a self heal (it turns blocked damage into healing), but that is one of the three "hybrid" classes that only the player character can be.

Hmm. Crap. So do I turn Puffin into a warrior or leave her as a mage? I kind of like her as a mage, because she's physically built like a warrior.

Well, do you want her to be a healer or a tank.

Either way, eventually you will max out her rank in that class and it will behoove you to change her to another class anyway so that she can pick up other augment skills, so you can have her spend time doing both jobs and see what you prefer.

Digging the Assassin class. Melee and shield for indoors, bow for outdoors.

Mystic Knight was a big letdown. Just didn't gel with me. If anyone gets some experience with it and finds it better, I'd love to hear about it.

I mentioned in IRC that this was the best combat system in an open-world RPG I'd ever seen, and I still think that 10 hours or so in. I couldn't put it into words, but now I think I have at least a vague way to do so:

Probably like many nerds my age, the visualization of medieval combat in the Lord of the Rings movies made me fall head over heels for swords and sorcery. I've never felt in a game like I could replicate all the moves Legolas or Aragorn could, in real time, with legit agency.

Dragon's Dogma pulls it off.

Aristophan wrote:

Fredrick_S, I summoned in your pawn. Do you need to pay more for pawns that are higher level than you? I'm level 6 and yours was level 12 and it cost me 120ish RC.

If you are on PS3 and want a pawn who knows how to be swallowed by a hydra, then I've got the guy for you!

I'll make sure to add you and add your pawn to my little gang of mass murderers.

Okay, I've got the hang of the pawn mechanics. Here's what I'm loving the crap out of in regards to it:

-It's very easy to alter your party as necessary. If you can't find who you need now, try something else and come back later. This seems like it lends a lot of variation to how you tackle the more substantial quests.

-The Chair of Knowledge system is pretty sweet. I've seen drastic changes in Serfiriel after we've had a couple chats.

-There's an over-abundance of female pawns at the moment on XBL. I've got some pretty bad-ass women fighting for me. That's neat.

I'm disappointed I didn't get more time to put into this game this week, but I definitely know what's eating my weekend. I'm finding this game to be fun in the same way I enjoyed Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance with a few roommates years back. I remember that being quite frantic in some local-multiplayer combat situations where we were all shouting at each other cooperatively. The pawn system reminds me of that feeling, and the combat is way better. Also, there's no "when's everyone around next?".

The more I see and hear, the more and more I'm convinced that the folks pooh-poohing this game really just don't care for this sort of title. It does the action thing very, very well.

Yeah, I can't stop playing. I keep telling myself that after I get back to town I should take a break, or play some Diablo, or you know, go to bed, but then I make my rounds to the shops, update my pawn team, open my quest log, and run back out the gate.

zeroKFE wrote:

Yeah, I can't stop playing. I keep telling myself that after I get back to town I should take a break, or play some Diablo, or you know, go to bed, but then I make my rounds to the shops, update my pawn team, open my quest log, and run back out the gate.

Boy does that sound familiar to me.

A couple things I've done that drastically improved my game.

1: Set your Xbox to 720p if it's currently set to 1080i/p. For some reason MT framework games have really bad screen tearing if you have your Xbox set to output 1080. Setting it to 720p smoothed things out with the camera movement and it hurts my eyes much less.

2. Turn off party chat subtitles. Entirely unnecessary to keep on and frees up a substantial amount of screen realestate

3. Turn off button displays while you are at it. Frees up even more screen for combat goodness.

4. Sleep at the inn often. I've been surprised just how much work my pawn has been getting!

So a harpy just grabbed onto one of my guys and started to fly away with him until I managed to shove two arrows up her ass.

I love that this game exists.

I dig those moments too, ccesarano. For a bunch of subhuman constructs repeating a lot of the same dialog, I sure do worry about my pawns when monsters try to make off with them.

One thing that's bugging me after finally getting about five hours in - I'm dying too quickly in some of these fights, often from two-hit kills. The frustration there is making for some shorter play-sessions than I'd like (boos and hisses to you, load times). What have you fine folks worked out is the best way to stay alive early on other than good old-fashioned caution? Should I grind some experience or go for the gold and subsequent armor or what?

I just made it to the Capital (or Capitol? I never remember) myself, and the march to the escort quest leading me there had to be repeated two or three times. I basically learned to save early and often.

I'm mixed on items, too. I want to keep my character light in order to maximize movement speed, but at the same time it seems like finding nuts and berries is a great way to recover health in the middle of combat.

Does this game have a sort of "Instant Travel" option? I'm used to playing Xenoblade where, if I want to go back to a previous town, all I need to do is just jump right back.

Does this game have a sort of "Instant Travel" option? I'm used to playing Xenoblade where, if I want to go back to a previous town, all I need to do is just jump right back.

There are items you can buy that will transport you back to the capitol. You'll get your first one free as you expire the city and find the point you warp to, but after that you will have to find or buy them (they are rare to find, and expensive in the early going; 10k from one vendor and 15k or 20k from another).

zeroKFE wrote:
Does this game have a sort of "Instant Travel" option? I'm used to playing Xenoblade where, if I want to go back to a previous town, all I need to do is just jump right back.

There are items you can buy that will transport you back to the capitol. You'll get your first one free as you expire the city and find the point you warp to, but after that you will have to find or buy them (they are rare to find, and expensive in the early going; 10k from one vendor and 15k or 20k from another).

Spoiler:

The one in the capitol laying in the ring of stones will respawn after some time.

Curious about other peoples' party setups. I went with myself as an assassin, with a sorcerer, mage, and fighter for a while, but grew to dislike the results. I since switched to magick archer and went mage, fighter, warrior. Seems way more efficient. The warrior does great damage, sometimes I'd notice the two mages lolligagging and wonder if one could handle the magical load.

Also, ran into my first dragon. They are really intimidating. I'm only level 29, took me about ten minutes to get one of this 8 or so health bars down. I decided to run and try when I'm twice as strong. Seems like magick archer will be a good class for fighting them though, with the auto-target and their tiny weak spot.

In other roleplaying games, you enter people's houses and proceed to break the furniture, open up all the containers, and take everything. In Dragon's Dogma, your pawns do all that for you.

OK, so, in the demo I could hit RT to grab on to a monster, pin a harpy by the shoulders, or grab someone by the arms and hold them still. In the full version, I can still grab on to monsters but if I try to grab a small monster or human I end up throwing them over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Anyone know what's going on here? I'm using the same character so it's not like this one's super strong or something.