I’ve taken a big detour, finally got into the current gen with an Xbox Series S. Since then, Persona 5 Royal has completely sucked me in and that plus my monitor only having a single HDMI port have been a barrier to making any more progress in DD. But with the game going on sale on Xbox, it seemed like a good opportunity to play a slightly more polished version of the game. So, I fired it up last night and spent about 30 minutes blowing through all the tutorial stuff as fast as possible and filling up my quest log. One thing I noticed was that Japanese audio isn’t available for whatever reason but English will make for a change of pace I guess. Anyway, it should be easy to dip in and out of over the next couple of months. Especially with not having those PS3 load times.
Edit: and please add friend me up if you’re playing on Xbox :-).
Just you mentioning P5R has got me itching to take another crack at it, it's perfectly understandable. Here's hoping your initial grind goes swiftly & successfully!
Side-note: Something I noticed in the current-gen ports is that in the loading screens that open & close the game, you're given about 2 paragraphs of text on those screens that, on modern ports, go by in a matter of seconds. In those moments, remember the screenshot/share button exists.
Happy hunting!
I've never played DDog but 4 deaths certainly sounds very impressive. Congrats!
I've already died 7-8 times this play through ;). Combination of rushing the early content a bit and not having access to the super powered pawns from my PSN friends on the PS3 version. So far I'm up to escorting the hydra head to the capital. Spent some time exploring, pushed my level up to 23 and grabbed some better equipment from the trader at the rest camp near the Shadow Fort. That's about as far as I wanted to push it this time because exploring everywhere without having access to rest point NPCs is kind of a pain in the ass.
Finally passed where I was on my play through on PS3. Met with the Duke after a rather jarring encounter with the court jester. I assume they’ll be showing up again. I now quickly find out not everyone is a huge fan of the Arisen, ambushed twice in quick succession on leaving Gran Soren. The first of the Duke’s quests, the griffin hunt, turned into far more of a trek than I expected. Also, I thought how to set the bait for the griffin wasn’t well signposted.
I also finished off Witch Hunt, which led to some interesting revelations, just how many Arisen are running around? And another Salvation quest, these idiots just don’t give up.
Feste is absolutely a horrible little gremlin, what an unsavory little fool. Also Witch Hunt gets into those tasty themes of personhood that I love, great stuff~
I look forward to him getting his comeuppance! Also, I’m glad that the Duke apparently has an extremely short term memory. Yikes… although that was the third time I’ve been locked up, you’d think by now they’d realize not to leave me with my skeleton keys.
I moved on to the trial quest and the game definitely loses some momentum. You have four days to gather testimonies and witnesses but I think I probably did it in a day. I ended up just dumping everything on the chancellor, he can deal with the outcome. Then I knocked off about five bounty quests and I still have two days to kill. There should just be a skip to trial option.
If I recall correctly, I think there are actually some pieces of evidence/testimony that don't become available for you to find until that last day or two before the trial. I think sleeping in an Inn can help fast-forward that clock if you're seeking to accelerate. Otherwise, you can keep on doing like you've been doing and take care of more riveting activities while the clock ticks down.
Okay, got it. I think something was said about finding the accused’s daughter but I haven’t been able to. Maybe she shows up later?
After double-checking, I may be wrong re: more leads appearing over time, apologies. Fournival's daughter, Symone, only shows up to testify if you did her Escort quest beforehand. Otherwise, it seems that if you've hit all your map markers, all that's left is the passage of time (or the purchase of falsified affidavits out near the woods near the Shadow Fort.
Looks like I missed that escort quest which is too bad because I tried to catch all of them. I think the escort quests can be a bit finicky because Madeleine’s escort quest showed up on the board and I went and put down a portal stone. But, by the time I came back, the quest was gone. It then showed up again later and I was able to complete it. Weird.
I think you can get another shot at doing Symone's escort quest, but only if Fournival is proven innocent, then she'll be around their house in the daytime. Otherwise, it's a pain in the rear of an escort quest - you just putter about Gran Soren with her while she gripes in stereotypical rich kid fashion. However, if you do it right, it does get you the Gold Idol, which you can use for Caxton or Madeline's Idol quests (bolsters their inventories with better gear).
I already gave them the bronze and silver idols respectively :). And maybe I shouldn’t have had that fake guilty testimony made up, whoops!
Yay, I finished up the main quest! There is still a ton available to do, but I think I'm done. Hats off to the many people that enjoyed this game. I'm really and truly happy for you. For me, it was a bland, tedious grind. There are so many design choices that are either half-baked or intentionally evil.
To be clear, I think that some of the tedium was my own fault. I spent WAY too much time trudging to far off locations because I didn't understand that you are supposed to LEAVE Portcrystals where you find them or pick them up and place them intentionally somewhere else. I thought it was just a loot item (or rare crafting material of some kind), so I was freely carrying around all of the ones I found after major quests, and then had to spend the time going back to those locations later. Still, I think it's an unnecessary hindrance to the player. What is the benefit of this system? Just make the major locations selectable permanently for fast travel and allow the player to use Portcrystals to set up custom fast travel destinations. What's the harm in that other than cutting out intentional padding from the overworld?
Also, why is there no lock-on mechanic in this game? That was a fairly consistent standard for 3D action RPGs by the time this game came out, so it's intentionally exclusion is baffling and infuriating.
The Pawn system is an interesting idea, but for me, just ... meh. It seemed like an attempt to shoehorn in some multiplayer mechanics without actually programming multiplayer. None of the Pawns were that interesting and their incessant chatter because a nuisance (yes, I know you can turn down their speech).
Don't get me started on the inventory system. One of the worst I have EVER encountered. Typical Gran Soren experience: Go to the Inn to rest up and individually transfer all my materials into my inventory, then go to the weapons dealer to see what I can buy and enhance using my inventory, then BACK to the Inn to deposit everything BACK. Who thought that was a good idea? Oh, and because the stamina system is so ungodly restrictive, I basically ran around the entire game in a loincloth only to limit the amount of weight I was carrying around.
In short, this game missed the mark for me on nearly every level, so I'm glad that we did a two-fer this month in the JRPG club, because Cosmic Star Heroine was fantastic. Again, if you loved it, good for you. It's just not for me, even though I did fight through to finish it.
It’s too late now but for the purpose of upgrading and selling, the vendors in certain locations, the capital, your home village, and the first encampment, automatically have access to your storage. So, just dump everything in your storage and then visit npcs to do selling/upgrading. It’s only if you’re at a remote camp that you’ll need the items on your person. You can tell this is the case because the camp npc will only have the option to “send items back to the capital”.
Port crystals are definitely something I did not take proper advantage of my first couple of attempts at the game. This time round, I have my port crystals in key locations, mostly the remote camps but also one at the Blue Moon Tower because that’s a pain to get to. Then I also keep one on my person (actually my main pawn to save on weight). So doing an escort quest, for example, has me jumping to the nearest camp, sprinting to the destination, putting down my port crystal, jumping back to the quest board, taking the quest, then jumping back to the port crystal I just put down. So, the majority of these escort quests I’m completing in 2-3 minutes at most.
It’s too late now but for the purpose of upgrading and selling, the vendors in certain locations, the capital, your home village, and the first encampment, automatically have access to your storage. So, just dump everything in your storage and then visit npcs to do selling/upgrading. It’s only if you’re at a remote camp that you’ll need the items on your person. You can tell this is the case because the camp npc will only have the option to “send items back to the capital”.
Port crystals are definitely something I did not take proper advantage of my first couple of attempts at the game. This time round, I have my port crystals in key locations, mostly the remote camps but also one at the Blue Moon Tower because that’s a pain to get to. Then I also keep one on my person (actually my main pawn to save on weight). So doing an escort quest, for example, has me jumping to the nearest camp, sprinting to the destination, putting down my port crystal, jumping back to the quest board, taking the quest, then jumping back to the port crystal I just put down. So, the majority of these escort quests I’m completing in 2-3 minutes at most.
Yeah, I didn't pick up on that about the other NPCs that allowed me to manage inventory. It would have been helpful. And yes, your portcrystal usage was probably the way the developer intended.
Also, re: inventory management tips a tad too late, did you ever do any inventory packmuling your pawns? In the grand Skyrim tradition, you can unload the bulk of your inventory (especially the heavy monster loot) on both your personal & borrowed pawns. Should your pawns go down, they'll still have the items on them when you respawn then from the riftstone (or in the case of borrowed pawns, their inventories dump into your central item storage before going back from whence they came).
Regardless, my condolences to ya for your rough go of it, kstress. I know I landed on the complete opposite end from ya, because the bulk of your grievances were tasty bits of flavor for me that contributed to the sense of "the expedition", that feeling of setting out on a camping trip and having to manage.
Out of curiosity, when you say you finished the main quest, did you wrap up after Slay The Dragon, or did you pursue the 20 wakestones? Both can be considered endings so I won't make ya go back into the pain factory, but I'm curious about your plot thoughts if you're willing.
My main is a small, light rogue-type so they can’t actually carry much before the weight becomes problematic. Definitely some kind of automated inventory with you and your pawn(s) would have been nice!
Aye, at least a big bulk-inventory sort/arranging system would be helpful. I, too, played a Strider/Assassin, so I spent a lot of time shuffling things around between menus to keep light & nimble. Hopefully DDog 2 will bring some handier sorting options when it arrives!
I already gave them the bronze and silver idols respectively :). And maybe I shouldn’t have had that fake guilty testimony made up, whoops!
To continue on with trial and tribulations, pun intended, I originally submitted the fake guilty affidavit because I figured that, outside of a single witness (the gardener), everyone else was vouching for his innocence (1 witness, 3+ affidavits). And, this might at least give a chance of him being found guilty. Well, I changed my mind and decided to try to help him out. I went back to the peddler and bought 3(!) more fake affidavits, all supporting his innocence. A few sleeps at the inn and it’s trial day! And he’s found guilty anyway! What…?! Someone must really have it out for him!
Cleaned up a bunch more bounty quests. Had an interesting character moment with Mercedes:
She loses a duel with that Salvation collaborator, I swear I nearly intervened three times (not sure if you actually can). In the end she says she’s returning to her home country. I realize that I know very little about the Dragon’s Dogna world and it seems at least some of the nobles/knights I’ve met aren’t actually from Gransys! Perhaps there was a better way to get some of this lore into the game earlier?
Then hunted down this unfortunate mage. Bad idea to mess with (one of) the Arisen!
Yup! Re: Trials & Tribulations, I've yet to find a guide that guarantees a specific outcome, because there always seems to be a chance of both verdicts, you're just able to stack the odds with the evidence you present.
If it's any consolation, everything outside of the character witnesses seems to point towards Fournival doing some treason for profit, so heck with that guy, he sucks anyways.
As for Mercedes:
You can actually intervene in the fight, but I think it bums her out in a different way. However, I read that supposedly, if you kill the Salvation guy, you can bring him back to life with a Wakestone and he'll come back willingly to confess his crimes. Wild variations this game plans for.
Happy hunting, you're moving at a steady clip!
A new gameplay showcase from TGS just came out today, and I posted my thoughts behind a spoiler tag over in the DDog Catch-All.
My spoiler-free thoughts: Looks great! Tasty & interesting gameplay additions/tweaks, and QoL additions that have got me hooping & hollering. Very excited for this on the horizon!
Out of curiosity, when you say you finished the main quest, did you wrap up after Slay The Dragon, or did you pursue the 20 wakestones? Both can be considered endings so I won't make ya go back into the pain factory, but I'm curious about your plot thoughts if you're willing.
Yeah, I have to sheepishly admit that I saw the credits after
killing the dragon
and presumed that there was nothing else beside endgame quest-wrapping and NG+. Then I discovered that there are postgame quests to get to a "true ending"? Nope, I have to pass. I hope it's not required for completion here.
I wouldn't say so, it gives you a credits roll there for a reason, and everything after is referred to as "the post-game" most everywhere I looked. I'd still vouch for ya in calling this a finish line, you completed the main quest line, far be it from me to throw you back in the Torture Nexus for longer when you already spent hours in there. Thanks for playing!
I believe everything after kstress' spoiler is stuff that was added with the dlc (Dark Arisen). That quest/ story point was the end of the pre-dlc game. It has been like a decade since I played, so I could be wrong.
I don't know if that's true, but getting the true ending gets you the "full" credits with all devs listed. With the alternate endings, the credits are super short, only showing a few names. I think it took me 3 or 4 hours to get the true ending, though I could have definitely spent many more hours grinding gear and chasing stronger monsters/bosses.
Yay, I finished up the main quest! There is still a ton available to do, but I think I'm done. Hats off to the many people that enjoyed this game. I'm really and truly happy for you. For me, it was a bland, tedious grind. There are so many design choices that are either half-baked or intentionally evil.
Congratulations! Obviously did not check this thread for a few days. In these rare quarters where we play two games, you only get 1 level up for finishing, and I think you already got one for Cosmic Star Heroine. Still, I'll note your completion in the other thread!
Ding dong the Dragon’s dead!
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Er, maybe?
We already know some things aren’t what they seem so I guess the jury’s out.Leading up to battle, I intervened in the Duke choking out the Duchess (still not sure of the motive) and later rescued her from being imprisoned. Anyway, apparently that was enough for her to want to start a romantic relationship. Huh…
Well, I squashed Salvation (again) with the leader being literally squashed by our favorite dragon. Then I pursued the Dragon and was given an ultimatum. Sacrifice the Duchess and protect the realm or risk myself in (not so) deadly combat against the Dragon. A few questions. Has anyone tried the first option? I assume you get some kind of alternate ending if you do. I’m quite curious. Second, is it always the Duchess who is your “most important” person? I mean, I helped various folks on my journey.
Well, I chose the second option and entered a not so tense battle where the Dragon did its best to let me kill it. Which I finally did.
Now I actually previously got about this far on PS3 way back so I wasn’t totally shocked by what unfolded next. But I’m definitely interested in digging into it more.
Okay, onto the second chapter! I already got a taste of the fiercer monsters when I left the village, yikes! Those hell hounds are pretty nasty.
Yeah, sacrificing your love leads to an alternate ending where you become the Duke of Gransys. This is what happened to the current king, and explains a bit why he seemed to mistake who the duchess was when he attacked her.
It’s always the person who you maxed affinity with, assuming you did so. I romanced a villager, so it was her.
With these alternate endings, they act as a “game over” so you can reload and try again to continue working towards the true ending.
Congrats! I'll answer some Q's off the air:
Regarding romance, most any named NPC can wind up as your "beloved, that the Dragon kidnaps, the game defaults to whomever you've built up the most Affinity with (by way of doing their quests, giving them items they like, etc.). In my playthrough, I completed Quina's questline, so she got nabbed during my final showdown.
As for the Dragon's bargain, if you pick the sacrifice option, the game gives you a "bad" end where your Beloved is killed, and you then become the new Duke of Gransys, seated atop your throne in Gran Soren, alone & unaging. If you reload after this, the game takes you right back to the ultimatum so you can carry on all heroic-like.
And welcome to the post-game! I remember getting accosted by a black chimera right after stepping out of Cassardis, the jump in difficulty was both shocking & refreshing. Make sure you set a course for Gran Soren to see what's next, and happy hunting!
EDIT: Evidently beanman and I are drift-compatible b/c we started typing out the same thing at the same time.
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