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

[TiLT]

As a consequence of this, I ended up quite far from where I started.  This gave me a chance to get a firsthand feel for just how large the game world is after checking my map when all was said and done.   

The game world is actually pretty small compared to other open-world games like these. It's just the fact that you have to walk everywhere and that the world is crawling with monsters that makes it seem larger.

[Hotfreak]

Tilt, although I'm not high enough level yet to where using Rufus would not be game-breaking, it's fun to see him in all his glory when I enter to the rift.  So, thanks again!

I downed my first cyclops on the first try at level 17 with pawns of 16, 16, and 22.  I made its head look like a pin-cushion.  Then I was promptly destroyed in stage three of my first chimera fight -- then in my 2nd, 3rd and 4th tries.  Each time, the respawning of lesser enemies played a huge role.  I even had a demon's souls-like controller tossing moment when I cautiously fought the lion through an evening and into the morning only to perish with it only having a sliver of life left to a 4-Saurian respawn. 

I actually had to step away from the console for about 15 minutes to get over it. 



I'm away for the weekend but clearly keep thinking about going back to play it.

[TiLT]

You'll be happy to know that you'll be able to one-shot chimeras at higher levels. In fact, both chimeras and cyclops will be relaxing enemies for you to face between the truly difficult ones. 

[metallicorphan]

I have been playing and playing this game but not advancing the story,because of that last time when i met the Duke and a shitload of quests got cancelled,so not met him yet in this playthru,but done all the exploring(opened all the map up)and quests i can,i am just about to hit level 40...and i know what you mean about the Chimera's and Ogres being easy now...when i first went though the Ancient Passage and cleared out the 3 Ogres,it was a battle of battles...took an hour to finish all 3...now ogres take all of 3 minutes if that,same with Chimeras


That damn Drake still kicks my ass south of the Shadow Fort though..he has like a dozen health bars(probably not that many,but close enough!!)


done the first 18 DLC 'From A Different Sky' quests as well..i quite like them because they are a nice distraction from the other quests

[TiLT]

i am just about to hit level 40

Dude, stop delaying and proceed with the main quests at once! You're becoming overleveled for the game at this point. I killed the dragon at level 43 or so, for comparison, and reached NG+ at about 53.

[metallicorphan]

i am just about to hit level 40

Dude, stop delaying and proceed with the main quests at once! You're becoming overleveled for the game at this point. I killed the dragon at level 43 or so, for comparison, and reached NG+ at about 53.

I thought you couldn't be overleveled,doesn't it take into account to whatever level you are?..unlike Oblivion where you could run everywhere at level 1(example) and then those areas would all be locked at level 1 for the rest of the game

I presumed that was why there were 200 levels in Dragons Dogma


Not that i have a choice anyway,i think i have nothing else to do but proceed anyway   (apart from that Drake )

[TiLT]

Of course you can be overleveled! This is a game with predetermined enemy strength, so if you keep leveling up you'll outgrow the enemies in strength unless you also move forward in the story. There's indeed 200 levels, but you're not supposed to get anywhere near that limit in your first playthrough. That limit is there so you have something to strive for through multiple rounds of NG+.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

I beat the dragon today. Was a fun battle, but actually somewhat easy. One weird thing though:

Spoiler for Hiden:

They had my love interest as Madeleine. While I did help her escape the castle, the whole time I had been working on the Duke's woman. I helped her escape and I'm pretty sure I slept with her. She even gave me her token.

Also, has anyone taken the "kill the girl" option?

[CeeKay]

damn, I'm something like 44 and didn't think it was possible to overlevel.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

damn, I'm something like 44.

Yeah, I know. For the last week, I keep dismissing then rehiring Winter hoping she'll have leveled. You're killing me here, CeeKay!

[CeeKay]

damn, I'm something like 44.

Yeah, I know. For the last week, I keep dismissing then rehiring Winter hoping she'll have leveled. You're killing me here, CeeKay!

sorry, been meaning to play a bit this weekend but we had some mild winds that knocked the power grid out of whack and today is the first day I've had reliable power.

[EngineNo9]

I wouldn't worry about overleveling, I think I finished the game (the real ending) at level 64 or something.  There was plenty of challenge in the last part of the game.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

I played more after beating the dragon last night.

Spoiler for Hiden:

The new monsters are no joke! At least at level 54. As far as "common" enemies go, the hell hounds are especially tough. And the new chimeras are about 20x harder.

[metallicorphan]

yay,i finally defeated the Drake last night,i looked up advice online and some people said if you are an Assassin to use 'Dire Gouge' and the fight should be more or less over


I can't say it helped that much,let alone make the fight "more or less over"...however my Pawn had this mega shitball ice attack where the actual iceberg that took down the Titanic appears out of nowhere and the Drakes Health bars disappeared fast,it still took awhile,and it seems it had to be me to finish it off...but just glad i was finally able to beat it,the 30-40 or so Goblin mobs who decided to join the fight were more annoying in the end

[Ralph-Wiggum]

So my pawn has been either a mage or a sorcerer his whole life (level 52 now). Obviously, he is pretty tapped out on learning. Is it worth having him switch vocations so that he can learn some new skills? If so, any suggestions about which are worth switching to? My goal is for him to go back to being a sorcerer as his main role, but I'm not sure if he's losing something by not learning anything new.

[hepcat]

Things I learned this weekend:

1) I can climb the larger monsters.  I had head folks tell tales about this feat, but didn't realize how to do it until I accidentally hit the grab button while fighting (unsuccessfully) a drake.  After thought I sought out all the larger monsters I could think of to practice.  The combat in this game is just so much damn fun.  I actually like it more than Demon Souls as it isn't as precise and based on exact timing.

2) If you read a tome in the middle of the city, it may actually trigger a very destructive spell that ends with you in rags in a dungeon. 

3) Retry from last checkpoint sends you back to the last visit to an Inn...even if that last visit was two hours ago.  Ah well, it's either go from there or start from the dungeon.  Good think I love the combat so much. 

[Roguetad]

Things I learned this weekend:
3) Retry from last checkpoint sends you back to the last visit to an Inn...even if that last visit was two hours ago.  Ah well, it's either go from there or start from the dungeon.  Good think I love the combat so much. 

You probably already know this, but choosing Retry from Last Checkpoint is really a last resort.  Continue or whatever the other option is will load you from a much closer location. 

[hepcat]

Yeah...but sadly the game autosaved after I set off a mini-nuke in the heart of the city and ended up in the dungeon for my stupidity.  90 minutes of replaying a couple of quests is a small price to play for my stupidity.

[CeeKay]

Yeah...but sadly the game autosaved after I set off a mini-nuke in the heart of the city and ended up in the dungeon for my stupidity.  90 minutes of replaying a couple of quests is a small price to play for my stupidity.

you read the book, didntcha?

[Roguetad]

Yeah...but sadly the game autosaved after I set off a mini-nuke in the heart of the city and ended up in the dungeon for my stupidity.  90 minutes of replaying a couple of quests is a small price to play for my stupidity.

you read the book, didntcha?

Ok, I know what you did    

[Ralph-Wiggum]

I've never used any of the tomes. Do they actually do some useful stuff?

For that matter, I've never used a jewel either. Is there any difference between a jewel and a potion other than the fact that most jewels are heavier to carry around?

[CeeKay]

I've never used any of the tomes. Do they actually do some useful stuff?

For that matter, I've never used a jewel either. Is there any difference between a jewel and a potion other than the fact that most jewels are heavier to carry around?

sometimes jewels are needed for enhancing items.

[hepcat]

Yeah...but sadly the game autosaved after I set off a mini-nuke in the heart of the city and ended up in the dungeon for my stupidity.  90 minutes of replaying a couple of quests is a small price to play for my stupidity.

you read the book, didntcha?

Ok, I know what you did    

Yup...and I'm terrorist number one if i go back to that save.   

[metallicorphan]

Yeah...but sadly the game autosaved after I set off a mini-nuke in the heart of the city and ended up in the dungeon for my stupidity.  90 minutes of replaying a couple of quests is a small price to play for my stupidity.

yeah i was giving a present to the little girl in the Inn,and ended up trying to put my sword through her head,and i got nicked

BTW,is bribing the guard(5000k) the only way to get out of there?

[CeeKay]

yay,i finally defeated the Drake last night,i looked up advice online and some people said if you are an Assassin to use 'Dire Gouge' and the fight should be more or less over


I can't say it helped that much,let alone make the fight "more or less over"...however my Pawn had this mega shitball ice attack where the actual iceberg that took down the Titanic appears out of nowhere and the Drakes Health bars disappeared fast,it still took awhile,and it seems it had to be me to finish it off...but just glad i was finally able to beat it,the 30-40 or so Goblin mobs who decided to join the fight were more annoying in the end

just beat the Drake too, and had the same issue with Goblins.  I only got a couple of dragonforged upgrades (forgot my daggers were only 2 star but I sure will appreciate the hosen getting the upgrade) and one of the pawns got her boots upgraded too.

got lucky and only had to kill one pawn during the fight (which started just as night was falling in game and lasted until mid morning) due to not being able to disrupt the charm spell in time.

[Eightball]

Yeah...but sadly the game autosaved after I set off a mini-nuke in the heart of the city and ended up in the dungeon for my stupidity.  90 minutes of replaying a couple of quests is a small price to play for my stupidity.

yeah i was giving a present to the little girl in the Inn,and ended up trying to put my sword through her head,and i got nicked

BTW,is bribing the guard(5000k) the only way to get out of there?

No, if you have a skeleton key in your possession, you can get out.  Generally, I carry 4 skeleton keys around, as sometimes outside Gran Soren you'll run into doors that you can unlock with them...

[CeeKay]

been taking Winter down the Sorcerer path, and I nearly crapped my pants the first time she whipped out Bolide in the catacombs.

[CeeKay]

yay,i finally defeated the Drake last night,i looked up advice online and some people said if you are an Assassin to use 'Dire Gouge' and the fight should be more or less over


I can't say it helped that much,let alone make the fight "more or less over"...however my Pawn had this mega shitball ice attack where the actual iceberg that took down the Titanic appears out of nowhere and the Drakes Health bars disappeared fast,it still took awhile,and it seems it had to be me to finish it off...but just glad i was finally able to beat it,the 30-40 or so Goblin mobs who decided to join the fight were more annoying in the end

just beat the Drake too, and had the same issue with Goblins.  I only got a couple of dragonforged upgrades (forgot my daggers were only 2 star but I sure will appreciate the hosen getting the upgrade) and one of the pawns got her boots upgraded too.

got lucky and only had to kill one pawn during the fight (which started just as night was falling in game and lasted until mid morning) due to not being able to disrupt the charm spell in time.

huh, just read that items on pawns won't get dragonforged.  the game mentioned 3 different items being upgraded but my character only has 2 and I haven't switched out any gear, what the heck?

[metallicorphan]

Yeah...but sadly the game autosaved after I set off a mini-nuke in the heart of the city and ended up in the dungeon for my stupidity.  90 minutes of replaying a couple of quests is a small price to play for my stupidity.

yeah i was giving a present to the little girl in the Inn,and ended up trying to put my sword through her head,and i got nicked

BTW,is bribing the guard(5000k) the only way to get out of there?

No, if you have a skeleton key in your possession, you can get out.  Generally, I carry 4 skeleton keys around, as sometimes outside Gran Soren you'll run into doors that you can unlock with them...

ahh,LOL...i had two on me at the time,but used them on the other cells 



CK- I thought the Dragonforge thing was only after the end boss,and for post gameplay...did some of my equipment get upgraded when i killed the Drake?..i never noticed,i was just making sure to pick up the scales(or whatever they were)

[CeeKay]

CK- I thought the Dragonforge thing was only after the end boss,and for post gameplay...did some of my equipment get upgraded when i killed the Drake?..i never noticed,i was just making sure to pick up the scales(or whatever they were)

when you kill a drake there is a slim chance of getting any given item upgraded-  the more stars the better the chance but I think even a 3 star item only has 20% chance of becoming dragonforged.

[CeeKay]

new DLC today:

A Face of a Different Color, 160 MS points:

Change your whole attitude with 7 new color variations and 6 new voice types for the character customization tool. Arisens are never ones to be lost in a crowd, but with these you'll stand out even more. As a special bonus, the Nameless Armor will be added to the Black Cat's inventory--with an extra set sent to your item storage. Just look for the blue-green icons! *This bonus can only be applied once per saved data. If the items are discarded or given away during gameplay, they will be lost.

I'm almost afraid to see what color pawns are going to be strutting around now.

[metallicorphan]

Would we need the DLC as well to see the new stuff in the rift?...saying that i saw a Green skinned mage last night in the Rift,she was dressed up like the Wicked Witch of the West,i was close to hiring her

I hate Capcom with their customisation DLC,it seems to be all their games they do it for(Streetfighter is the most famous one)



Right,i gotta problem

has anybody done the quest 'Nameless Terror'?

so after a while,the guard outside the entrance to Gran Soren has a quest for you,there are a group of Bandits called The Nameless and apparently i have pissed them off

so from 8pm to 4am they hang about in places waiting to jump me,there are 5 locations
-Near the Ancient Quarry
-just past the bridge on the other side of Gran Soren entrance
-The passage near Mountain Cottage and the Harpies where you escorted Mercedes earlier
-inbetween the Waycastle and Encampment
-outside the gates of Cassardis

when i had this quest as active,the first two areas had red circles around them,and i went there and defeated the two groups of bandits...however,i can not find the rest,and there are no circles this time on my map

anyone else done this quest,and maybe know what i am doing wrong?

I am wondering if its the kind of quest where the next location will show up if the story has been pushed along a bit,but everything i have read doesn't suggest so

[CeeKay]

I've heard of people having issues (spoilers) with that quest, but I haven't really proceeded with it myself.

on another note, fought the Cockatrice and only had one casualty:  Ariona got turned to stone.  seriously, someone get her a redshit 

[metallicorphan]

LOL,i just posted on that page about 5 seconds before making my post on here(i was also editing my profile,as i had not logged into Wikia since the days i used the FF11 wikia)

as soon as i posted on there...i then read the other posts, LOL..but no ones seemed to have an answer

[CeeKay]

I just completed the quest.  it appears some of the red circles do not pop up until you're right on top of them.  I also did them as listed:


1 - just past the bridge on the other side of Gran Soren entrance
(rested until night at the Gran Soren inn)
2 - Near the Ancient Quarry
3 - The passage near Mountain Cottage and the Harpies where you escorted Mercedes earlier
(rested until night at the Encampment)
4 - inbetween the Waycastle and Encampment
5 - outside the gates of Cassardis (will not trigger until the other 4 are completed)

honestly, it is a bad quest since it gives a time frame (I don't think I've seen the time of day listed anywhere in game) plus after the 4th encounter it says 'Face your attackers' but does not give any indication of where to go anywhere that I saw.  no notes, no mark on the map and none of my pawns where giving any hints; if I hadn't seen the walkthrough I may have never found it.

[EngineNo9]

I've heard of people having issues (spoilers) with that quest, but I haven't really proceeded with it myself.

I had that quest and was never able to get anybody to ambush me for many hours of running all over the game doing other stuff so I eventually gave up even thinking about it.

on another note, fought the Cockatrice and only had one casualty:  Ariona got turned to stone.  seriously, someone get her a redshit 

I personally got turned to stone no less than three times by that son of a bitch!  Pretty cool when I realized that unless you have a specific potion you can't cure it and will die a slow, inevitable death.  Cool, but annoying.

[CeeKay]

on another note, fought the Cockatrice and only had one casualty:  Ariona got turned to stone.  seriously, someone get her a redshit 

I personally got turned to stone no less than three times by that son of a bitch!  Pretty cool when I realized that unless you have a specific potion you can't cure it and will die a slow, inevitable death.  Cool, but annoying.

I only got hit with that once, and luckily I had one softening potion.  I'm currently playing a Strider (figured I'd max out the vocation since I was at 7 when I switched away), so all my main attacks were ranged.  blasted thing got away though.

[CeeKay]

maxed out Strider tonight (third vocation maxed out) and started in on Magic Archer, which is pretty fun.  I got Winter maxed out with Sorcerer, and I don't think I'm going to put her on any of the other vocations until I take a shot at either mage or sorcerer myself.

[metallicorphan]

I just completed the quest.  it appears some of the red circles do not pop up until you're right on top of them.  I also did them as listed:


1 - just past the bridge on the other side of Gran Soren entrance
(rested until night at the Gran Soren inn)
2 - Near the Ancient Quarry
3 - The passage near Mountain Cottage and the Harpies where you escorted Mercedes earlier
(rested until night at the Encampment)
4 - inbetween the Waycastle and Encampment
5 - outside the gates of Cassardis (will not trigger until the other 4 are completed)

honestly, it is a bad quest since it gives a time frame (I don't think I've seen the time of day listed anywhere in game) plus after the 4th encounter it says 'Face your attackers' but does not give any indication of where to go anywhere that I saw.  no notes, no mark on the map and none of my pawns where giving any hints; if I hadn't seen the walkthrough I may have never found it.

I did it last night,for some reason they all appeared(but no,not the circles for the last 3 still),however number 3 was pretty far away from where they listed....the guy(Darkness)was nowhere near the mountainside cottage,he was between the mountainside waycastle and that cage where the harpies usually have someone trapped,after he appeared and i defeated him,the others appeared normally


I am pretty close to where you are CK,i have just a few sidequests left and then i am off to fight the Cockatrice EDIT:Nope i lied,its the Griffin i think is next on my list in the story,not the Cockatrice


found the history stats page last night,here are a few:
quests completed -142
time spent with Female Pawns-88hrs 32minutes(which is weird because my entire playtime is 48hrs,so they must of added my first playtime in there,even though i deleted the gamesave before starting a new)
pawns hired-26(i think its something like 75 for the achievement)
total earned -4,407,707(10 million is for the achievement)
Enemies killed-4196
locations discovered-128
types of armour obtained-96(which scares me because the achievement is 350)

[Razgon]

maxed out Strider tonight (third vocation maxed out) and started in on Magic Archer, which is pretty fun.  I got Winter maxed out with Sorcerer, and I don't think I'm going to put her on any of the other vocations until I take a shot at either mage or sorcerer myself.

Just remember your outfit which as a Strider was Strength and Dex based, should be changed now to magic based since thats what Magic Archers use to amplify their damage with.