[360/PS3] Dragon's Dogma - Dark Arisen out!

[USMC Kato]

This game is pure crack for me. Haven't played any other games (except for Ghost Recon Co-op)
I've made "The Gray" into a pure damage powerhouse, chose augments so he doesn't get interrupted or knocked down while casting.

[Harkonis]

He keeps dying!

Which reminds me - Man you must have gotten a TON of crystals from me...

Edit: Harkonis was actually instrumental in me bringing down a Greater Hydra... Well, he kept getting eaten by it, but he distracted it quite nicely! Which was fine, since my two mages (Yes, The Grey is NOT one of them, since I needed a mage) for some reason really didnt want anything to do with the Hydra...

Mages are greatly overrated as buffs and heals are generally outdone both in power and convenience by magic weapons and herbs/pots

[Harkonis]

[No spoilers, I promise.  Just sharing my emotional reaction to the story ending.  If you don't even want to see that, please move along  ]

F**k yeah, now that's how you end a story!  Damn that was cool.  And there's even more content post story!  Like an entire DLC worth of post-game content...and that's not even considering New Game+.  Well done Capcom.  One of the best games I've played this generation, and I'm not ready to stop playing.  More post game stuff, and then new game+.     

Has anyone purchased the DLC for quests and weapons, and determined if they are worthwhile?

Both types of DLC seem pretty stupid personally.  The quests seem to all be simple find and fetch an item quests.  The weapons are crappy weapons against everything except one type of monster.

I shouldn't have used the expression, "like an entire DLC worth of post-game content."  I don't have any of the DLC, didn't sound very good.  I'm just talking about the content that everyone gets to play after the main story.

Post game is really good imo, it's almost like a rogue-like.  I like the ending of post game as well.

[Lockdown]

This game is pure crack for me. Haven't played any other games...

Same here.

[Razgon]

He keeps dying!

Which reminds me - Man you must have gotten a TON of crystals from me...

Edit: Harkonis was actually instrumental in me bringing down a Greater Hydra... Well, he kept getting eaten by it, but he distracted it quite nicely! Which was fine, since my two mages (Yes, The Grey is NOT one of them, since I needed a mage) for some reason really didnt want anything to do with the Hydra...

Mages are greatly overrated as buffs and heals are generally outdone both in power and convenience by magic weapons and herbs/pots

Yeah - I'm not entirely convinced myself. I just think that warrior and fighter are both kinda disadvantaged as well, since most things late game at least, seems to fly.

[CeeKay]

EngineNo9 just rocked the hell out of my pawn. He just came back to me with 5000+ rift crystals! But I can't believe you gave him only three stars for his appearance. He was so ashamed. /sniff

yeah, same here.  Winter came back with 30K RC from running around with his RickyMartin 

[Razgon]

Sadly, I can't play Skyrim anymore...the combat is way to flat and uninteresting compared to this game...arrghh!

[Harkonis]

He keeps dying!

Which reminds me - Man you must have gotten a TON of crystals from me...

Edit: Harkonis was actually instrumental in me bringing down a Greater Hydra... Well, he kept getting eaten by it, but he distracted it quite nicely! Which was fine, since my two mages (Yes, The Grey is NOT one of them, since I needed a mage) for some reason really didnt want anything to do with the Hydra...

Mages are greatly overrated as buffs and heals are generally outdone both in power and convenience by magic weapons and herbs/pots

Yeah - I'm not entirely convinced myself. I just think that warrior and fighter are both kinda disadvantaged as well, since most things late game at least, seems to fly.

they definitely are, but the taunt brings things down to their level at least a bit

[Roguetad]

Post game spoiler...tough fight

Spoiler for Hiden:

I've been making good progress through the different chambers of the Everfall, adding to my collection of wakestones.  Last night I ran into a room that had a dark chimera, normal chimera, a flying mage/wight, and a bunch of hellhounds.  It was insane.  My pawns didn't last more than 15 seconds before they started dying, and then I could only keep them on their feet for just a few seconds before a chimera or hellhound would pounce on them.  The difficulty wasn't in the individual creatures, it was the combination of them that made it a death trap for my pawns.  It was hilarious how crazy it was.  The mage was flying around loading us up with debilitations, the chimeras were steamrolling anyone stupid enough to try and cast a spell or long casting skill, and the hellhounds were nuking my pawns and trying to drag me away for dinner. 

I don't like to give up on a challenge, but after a few retries it was time to explore other parts of the everfall.  My fight after that was against a black dragon, and he was a piece of cake compared to the insanity of the dark chimera+chimera+flying mage+hellhounds.

I only have a few more wakestones to collect, so I'm doing ok.  My hats off to anyone that was able to defeat that encounter.   

[CeeKay]

tonight Winter came down with a case of 'sorcereritis', but she's much better now and back to being a mage.

[TiLT]

If there's one thing I don't like about this game, it's how you quickly peak in power within your vocation. In order to continue gaining new abilities you have to change to a different vocation that you might not want to actually play, and suffer a dramatic reduction in power for a considerable amount of time. That's not fun.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

This is something I should've figured out long ago, but how do you give a guest pawn more than one gift?

[Harkonis]

This is something I should've figured out long ago, but how do you give a guest pawn more than one gift?

only way to do that is to rehire them, or equip them with the gift

[bangiiz]

count me in,it looks great..perhaps this will be for me what Dragon Age wasn't(a great game)

[Doopri]

okay people with the strat guide and not afraid of non-main game spoilers... where do i find the

Spoiler for Hiden:

snakeskin purse?  the one the guy lost "down by the river???"

and also, once i take the dukes "main" quest, am i unable to complete

Spoiler for Hiden:

ALL my previous quests, or just the quests from the wyrm hunt???

 id LOVE any help!

[Caine]

okay people with the strat guide and not afraid of non-main game spoilers... where do i find the

Spoiler for Hiden:

snakeskin purse?  the one the guy lost "down by the river???"

and also, once i take the dukes "main" quest, am i unable to complete

Spoiler for Hiden:

ALL my previous quests, or just the quests from the wrym hunt???

  id LOVE any help!

let wikia be your guide

[EngineNo9]

and also, once i take the dukes "main" quest, am i unable to complete

Spoiler for Hiden:

ALL my previous quests, or just the quests from the wyrm hunt???

  id LOVE any help!

Yeah, I'm also curious about this quest.  I only have more "kill X things" quests, but there are several areas on the map I haven't explored yet and I'm wondering if I can just take the Duke's quest or if I should explore everywhere first.  I hate these kinds of situations, it makes me feel like I can never take that quest.

[Harkonis]

non-escort notice board quests are unaffected if you already have them.  With very few exceptions.  Worst case you can tag it on NG+

[Harpua3]

Thanks guys now I want this game as well! Caine you are simply not allowed to speak of this when we play d3. Simply not allowed!!!

[EngineNo9]

Man, I just got quickly killed by some crazy tornado spell after trying to explore the rest of the map, and now I got set back several hours since it apparently didn't do any quicksaves while I was out exploring and doing all that other stuff.   

[CeeKay]

holy hell, I just realized that hitting 'back' while on the pause menu is almost like quicksave.  I never noticed the option listed before 

[Gratch]

Put another hour and change into DD today...I'm just going to have to stick this one in the "everyone loves this game but me" pile.   

It's up in the trading forum if anyone wants it.

[Caine]

Thanks guys now I want this game as well! Caine you are simply not allowed to speak of this when we play d3. Simply not allowed!!!

come back after you kill your first ogre as a low level fighter by climbing his back and stabbing him in stabbing him in the face and tell me it wasn't worth it.

[Harkonis]

holy hell, I just realized that hitting 'back' while on the pause menu is almost like quicksave.  I never noticed the option listed before 

I covered that in my first xbox live party tutorial meeting 'Harkopedia Helps!'

[Caine]

this pretty much sums it up about the npc's

[TiLT]

I have somewhere around 35-40 hours of playtime in this game so far (haven't checked) and have hit level 39. It's still going strong and I'm enjoying it. It's a long game with plenty to do, even if the map itself is somewhat limited in scope (there are only two towns, for example).

Thinking a bit about it, I'd describe the game somewhat like this: If a team of Japanese developers were given a quick rundown of Gothic and asked to recreate it without having played it beforehand, Dragon's Dogma is what they'd end up with.

[Harpua3]

Thanks guys now I want this game as well! Caine you are simply not allowed to speak of this when we play d3. Simply not allowed!!!

come back after you kill your first ogre as a low level fighter by climbing his back and stabbing him in stabbing him in the face and tell me it wasn't worth it.

Grr...

[CeeKay]

things I'd like to see in the sequel:

HORSES (or some other way to quickly get around)
weather - imagine fighting an ambush at night in the middle of a raging thunderstorm.
MOAR TOWNS!  plus maybe a way to rest at places that are obviously safe, like the way castle or that manned keep to the north of the big city.
a way to tell your pawns 'DO NOT TRY AND CAST THE BIG COMPLICATED SPELL RIGHT WHEN YOU ARE STANDING IN FRONT OF THE BIG BEASTIE!' 

anyways, ran into a drake earlier.  I got him about halfway down, but then Winter went down and just as I was going to revive her one of the pawns I hired decided to pick her up    in the process I got walloped back, and then Maheret got controlled by the dragon, and in the process of laying the smackdown on her I lost track of where the other pawn left Winter, so I lost my healing.

next time I go in with a ton of curatives and something to counter the mind control.

[Harkonis]

1. Buy Magnaminous (sp?) Cloak from Fournival
2. Bring lots of curatives
3. Give every pawn 2 Possession preventing items
4. Take the stupid healing spells off all your pawns

[Doopri]

oh neat ck!  i hope youre still using oh so awesome warrior maheret and not the slightly more boring augment hunting strider maheret.  i need to go back to warrior soon and get her some gear!

[USMC Kato]

Yep first time I fought the Drake, he possessed The Grey. Didn't pay attention until it was too late, myself and my other two pawns got nuked by one big spell.

[CeeKay]

Thanks guys now I want this game as well! Caine you are simply not allowed to speak of this when we play d3. Simply not allowed!!!

come back after you kill your first ogre as a low level fighter by climbing his back and stabbing him in stabbing him in the face and tell me it wasn't worth it.

Grr...

plus imagine the cyclops ablaze in a fiery inferno from flame attacks as you jump on its back as it is stunned from a blast of lightning from the sky.

[Jarrodhk]

Life has intervened in my gaming lately. Looking forward to playing some more Dragons Dogma.

After I get some sleep.

[CeeKay]

Life has intervened in my gaming lately. Looking forward to playing some more Dragons Dogma.

After I get some sleep.

I just hired your pawn.  had to replace Doopri's as she was lagging behind.

[Harkonis]

Upgrade a rusty weapon to rank 3 or df and give it a shot 

[Caine]

Went out and ren into my first drake at around level 30.  An epic fight that went all through one night, and it was good it did as the assassin's passives kept me from dying.  It would have gone a lot easier if the damn  hobgoblins hadn't joined in.  out doesn't look like I got the DF upgrade though as my sword is still level two. 

Also saw a griffin flying around gran soren, but the bastard kept well out of range. 

[EngineNo9]

Check your other gear as well, apparently anything that can be upgraded has the chance to get Dragonforged.  I've also read that the higher you have it upgraded (1, 2, or 3-star) then the higher chance that it will be Dragonforged after that fight.  I'm not sure if that means non-upgraded things will never be or what.

[Harkonis]

I think it's 0% for no star, 2% for 1 star, not sure on 2 stars and 18% on 3 stars.  (this is for the drake btw)

Online Ur Dragon and the final boss are 100% for everything equipped

offline Ur Dragon tops out at 30% for 3 star

[Roguetad]

I've squeezed out as much content as I could for my first playthrough, including what was probably an extended stay in postgame.  I really enjoyed the game, and found it incredibly addicting.  I hope they sell enough to greenlight Dragon's Dogma 2.  

Some stats from my first playthrough:
Vocations maxed:  Mystic Knight and Magic Archer
Other Vocations played:  Mage 7 and Fighter 6
Favorite Vocation:  Magic Archer.  I like the feel of the archer classes in this game.  Magic Archer has one the best skills for postgame, and it has nothing to do with doing damage.  Greater Ward Arrow/Ward Arrow provides 100% immunity to all debilitations...and it cures them.  The immunity lasts for a good amount of time, and upgraded will protect the entire party.  Just aim at your party, shoot an arrow, and they will be cured and/or protected.  It makes the postgame fights a lot less hazardous.  

Main Pawn Vocations:  Mage 9, Warrior 9, Ranger 5
Party Composition (normal questing and adventuring):  Mage – Healer, Fighter with Shield Drum, and a damage dealing compliment to my class – while I was a Magic Archer I had Warrior pawns, while I was a Mystic Knight I had Ranger pawns.  
Party Composition (dragon killing):  Magic Archer or Mystic Knight (both are good at this), and 3 Rangers and/or Striders.  Mages and Sorcs get absolutely demolished here due to their long cast times…unfortunately.  The fights require mobility, and casters have to stand still for an eternity.  It just doesn’t work well.  

Final level before starting NG+: 56  

If they do a sequel for this generation of consoles, they have to improve the performance on the PS3.  Some of the fights against the largest enemies would slow down to a slideshow, especially if multiple spells were on the screen.  Pretty much anytime I used more than 1 great cannon against a large enemy the framerate would take a nosedive.  I don't mind if it doesn't impact the gameplay, but I can think of a few fights (especially post game) that the slowdown negatively impacted my timing, movement, and attacks.  I learned to work around it, but it definitely took away from the otherwise smooth gameplay and combat.  I hope the performance on the 360 was better.

[CeeKay]

yeah, I'm loving the ranger's 10 arrow shot, especially in dungeons where there are chokepoints.  since I got Ranger maxed out I may switch back to Strider to get the last two levels and then try Mystic Archer.  I still have a ways to go though-  I did all the Wyrm Hunt quests up to the audience and have been doing sidequests plus exploring in the meantime.

I'm not sure why the heal spells the mage has get a bad rap-  they're great for not having to micromanage everyone's health in a big fight.  sure, they have to stand still, but most of the time I find Winter casting a big spell in a stupid position it's not the green healing glow spell but an offensive one.  I've noticed the pawn AI seems kinda off in regards to having curatives:  Winter always has some but never seems to use them to bring her health back to full, and the hired pawns will pop them like candy even if they really aren't needed.