Capcom Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

[Damned Registrations]

Golems are immune to magic, completely. Figured that out pretty quick with my magic archer. They're also really, really easy to kill with physical attacks though, because of how they fight. But if your pawns are being useless (and they tend to suck at climbing on enemies) I'd imagine it would take forever to kill one.

Regarding Mystic Knight; my friend is playing as one, and they get some pretty cool shit (like party wide weapon enchants). But if you want to be up close and personal, magic archer works fine too. Dagger skills are totally viable for fucking with pretty much any kind of enemy. The only time I use my bow is against flying enemies, enemies too spread out to be worth running after (like goblins scattered all over the place) or when I want to deal pure magic/elemental damage, like for lighting something on fire or freezing it or whatever. You can also just use your bow for utility stuff, there's some buffs available through it.

 

[Mangoose]

Ah that makes sense. I actually killed the one golem I found (on the way to the Blue Tower) by getting on one of the ballistae on the cliffs.

 

[Mortmal]

Its pure goodness , i made an arcane archer as well, and you end up with really nice combos of skills . For example pull them together with a black hole arrow, then use your dagger seal to paralize them . I was wondering why the casting time of the seal was so long , especially for a melee skill, now i know why, shorter cooldown would be overpowered. Now i am wondering if its better to level in one class only and eventually will it unlock better versions of the skills , or just switch to some other and buy more skills ?

 

[Hobo Elf]

I'd look at all the augments of the related classes (mage, sorcerer, strider, ranger) and then see if there's anything you like/need/want. For example, the sorcerer has an augment that lessens casting time by -15%, if you want a faster casting speed for your spells. Lastly, you gain DP by killing monsters, they are not skill points you gain from level ups. You can max out all the vocations if you want.

Edit: Just remember that you can't carry over most of your skills / spells, if any (depends on the vocation) when you switch. You only get to keep augments. That's the only reason why you'd want to dip in to other vocations, to get the super cool augments. And maybe because you want some stats, like if you wanted to do more magic damage so you'd level as mage or sorcerer since they get the most magick from levels.

 

[Mortmal]

ok thanks for answer, this game should really have a manual. You cant know wich class gets what without reading a spoiler guide.Theres something else i dont understand, streangh and magic, if you attack in melee with magic dagger, is your damage based on strengh+magic or only the strengh part ?

 

[Hobo Elf]

I think your melee is just strength based. The magic stat you get from the dagger is to boost your spells.

 

[TheLostOne]

If your weapon has an enchantment, your magic stat is added to the damage the enchantment does. Later in the game you'll find weapons like 2-hrs with lower Str stats and higher Mag stats with perma enchantments. These are awesome until you find something resistant to that element. Fortunately, affinity spells overwrite the perma enchant.

Also, MA dagger skills that have a cast time use the magic stat.

I played Mage>Sorc>Magic Archer>Mystic knight and I'm loving the class. MK is interesting because it can play two different ways depending on whether you've leveled a Str build or a Mag build. For strength builds they get some cool attack skills as well as a buff that increases the reach of your weapon. For magic builds there are Sigils and Magic Cannon. You can also use a staff with its own set of skills. I wield a magic lighting sword and in my inv I have a pure phys mace for golem fighting and a staff which I never use. Magic Cannon destroys bosses, and when there are a ton of enemies laying down a ruinous sigil then a funnel sigil wipes them out.

 

[Hobo Elf]

My only gripe with Mystic Knight so far is that the enchantments end pretty fast. I'll probably dip in the Mage vocation for the augment that increases the time of my enchantments. I started out as a Fighter and went to MK after I got all the augments I wanted, and even though I lack Magic I still do a lot of damage with the spells. Just drop 3 Magic Cannons on the same spot and unleash the fucking fury. Would be even better with more Magic though, obviously.

 

[Volourn]

Just bought the game. Still early. I am playing a fighter, and my pawn is a mage. We're level 8. My two escort quests were easy and give super xp and goal (or whatever it's called). There's a lot to love about DD but there's a lot of dumb stuff too. Still, it's a vastly superior game to many popular games. *cough* Diablo *cough* ES *cough* AP *cough*. It might even surpass ME3, imo. The cave under the first town is real tough... damn lizards.... World seems really huge.. I hope there's a way to port to various places later on as I'd rather not have to walk repeatedly and fight lame early monsters if I want to go back somewhere.

POSITIVES
---------------

- Ability to jump/climb
- Pawn system
- Class system
- Item creation/upgrading
- combat can be challenging if you just rush randomly around
- no mercy!
- i'm interested in certain things which makes me want to play more to find out what's up
- hunting rabbits? l0lz

NEGATIVES
----------------

- save system is retarted... it looks like you can have only one character at a time
- levelling is of limited importance compared to most rpgs
- no non combat skills? BOO
- why not be allowed to have joinable npcs that are not pawns that level up as they go?



I hope there's an interesting back story of the water creature that hurts you and throws you back on the beach still alive. The connection between the dragon, the Arisen, and the Pawns will be a logical backstory as right now it is intriguing story hook.

Good times.

 

[SuicideBunny]

I hope there's a way to port to various places later on as I'd rather not have to walk repeatedly and fight lame early monsters if I want to go back somewhere.

yes, there is.

- no non combat skills? BOO

there are noncombat augs, including social ones.

- why not be allowed to have joinable npcs that are not pawns that level up as they go?

'cos that would make stuff too damn easy.

 

[Volourn]

Not even they properly balance the game to keep in that mind... just like any good DM would.


P.S. Good to know about the travelling thing.

 

[20 Eyes]

I think the pawn system only lets you make half the party to add a sort of social element to the game. It reminds me a lot of the Souls 'message' system, actually. I don't think it's about difficulty, I can find a pawn that's at least as good as a pawn I'd make in one minute (assuming I'm at a riftstone).

It is fun to rest and see how many people summoned your pawn and what they had to say about him/her, and I enjoy rating and leaving comments on other peoples'. inb4 declineaccordian, I still would've rather made my own party.

 

[Ebonsword]

It is fun to rest and see how many people summoned your pawn and what they had to say about him/her, and I enjoy rating and leaving comments on other peoples'. inb4 declineaccordian, I still would've rather made my own party.

Yeah, that's pretty much how I feel. While the pawn system is kind of interesting, it sure would be cool to at least have the option to create all three of your pawns.

It would be nice if they released a patch or something that would allow you to do that since in a year or two a lot fewer people will be playing this game and it will probably become a pain in the ass to find the exact right pawns for your party.

 

[Grimlorn]

Haven't played the game, but it does sound interesting.

I don't understand why you guys trade and use each other's pawns. Wouldn't it be better if you could join a friend's world, perhaps with your pawn? So there would be 2 players and 2 pawns? Would that make the game too easy or something?

 

[Mangoose]

Unfortunately there just isn't true multiplayer support designed for the game.

 

[Hobo Elf]

What about the Ur-Dragon? I thought you could fight it offline alone, but you get less item drops then, or you can fight it online with others, where it's tougher but drops more items. Of course that's just one fight though.

Edit: Holy fuck I just DESTROYED a Drake with my Mystic Knight. I kept laying Ruinous Sigils under his heart and he just got totally fucked over by it. Didn't even need to use curatives. Luckily, my White Hawk's Talon got Dragonforged. Thinking of farming this dragon to get my whole White Hawk set Dragonforged. He also dropped a Drake's Tear, which is lucky.

 

[Jasede]

I haven't had the chance to get this yet but I have to say, it sounds really, really easy! Y'all just taking about fucking things up badly. How's the longevity and difficulty? Only, it is hard to judge that so early post release.

 

[Ebonsword]

I haven't had the chance to get this yet but I have to say, it sounds really, really easy! Y'all just taking about fucking things up badly. How's the longevity and difficulty? Only, it is hard to judge that so early post release.

People (well, if idiot main-stream game reviewers count as "people") have talked about DD being difficult. It really isn't.

Yes, when starting off, if you go out at night into areas well above your level, you will probably get brutally slaughtered. There is also the occassional wandering drake, ogre, griffon, etc. that will come out of nowhere and beat you down. But once you get to 20th level or so, you should be sturdy enough to at least survive wandering around the map, even at night. And it's not that hard to get to 20th level.

And things just get easier from there (although there are still a few challenging encounters here and there, expecially if you don't have the right pawn combination).

My main character is now level 55 or so. I one-shot most of the trash mobs wandering around and even chimeras (which used to be an epic fight) get taken down in one minute or less.

I just started on the post-game content--we'll see if there's more challenge to be had there.

 

[Hobo Elf]

I haven't had the chance to get this yet but I have to say, it sounds really, really easy! Y'all just taking about fucking things up badly. How's the longevity and difficulty? Only, it is hard to judge that so early post release.

It's not the hardest game, but there are fights that are difficult for my Mystic Knight. Just because I'm good at killing Drakes doesn't mean I'm so good at something else, although I do think that Mystic Knight and Sorcerer might be the most over powered vocations in the game. The thing with hybrid vocations in this game is that they aren't jack-of-all-trades in the sense that they are just ok at many things, but that's it. They have skills unique to their vocations that are VERY powerful. Mystic Knight feels like he's the master of everything. Good melee, good magic and you can also heal yourself with a shield enchant that heals you when you block enemy attacks. But that's only reliable when you are good at blocking.

 

[Damned Registrations]

It mostly boils down to how fast you proceed through the game. I was getting fucked pretty hard by the bandits on the way to bluemoon tower for example, and it took me several tries to clear out the quarry. OTOH, some other fights were total jokes for me, because I'd spent a lot of time dicking around with sidequests and murdering every monster along the way between them before those events. How thoroughly you explore is going to make a big impact too. I don't try to track down every last chest and enemy in an area before moving on- if I did I'd have a lot more gold and xp and loot. Then there's the matter of preparation. You could argue it as self made difficulty, but I generally can't be arsed to go stock up on appropriate items, resting, or picking out suitable pawns or skills before going on missions. All of which would make shit easier. Undead are chumps if you have a holy attack. If you completely lack magic, they're damned near invincible. Generally they're somewhere in between.

 

[20 Eyes]

I haven't had the chance to get this yet but I have to say, it sounds really, really easy! Y'all just taking about fucking things up badly. How's the longevity and difficulty? Only, it is hard to judge that so early post release.

In my experience, the game starts off reasonably difficult. Around level 25, you engage rape mode and never shut it down. I still haven't finished the game, mind you. I'll post more impressions when I do.

The problem so far is the equipment and level progression makes you magnitudes stronger while you keep fighting the same (or slightly tougher versions) enemies. An enemy that might be a challenge at level 15 with appropriate equipment is a joke at level 25. A cyclops smacked my tank pawn yesterday and I didn't even see his health go down. Once you get a few durability augments and decent armor, you go from dying in a couple of hits (fun) to neigh-invulnerable (not so fun).

 

[SerratedBiz]

It's been theorized (I think due to otherwise unexplainable increases in xp gain) that monsters rise in level as you do, just at a much slower pace (nothing established yet, some people think it happens every 10 levels). So it's got a little level-scaling; it won't make the cyclops suddenly spring up a few more health bars, but it's meant to keep them from being completely overwhelmed as you keep growing.

That said, the cyclops (even the armored one) are supposed to be the weakest and most common of 'bosses'. There's still challenges to be had ahead if you haven't finished the game.

 

[Hobo Elf]

I haven't had the chance to get this yet but I have to say, it sounds really, really easy! Y'all just taking about fucking things up badly. How's the longevity and difficulty? Only, it is hard to judge that so early post release.

In my experience, the game starts off reasonably difficult. Around level 25, you engage rape mode and never shut it down. I still haven't finished the game, mind you. I'll post more impressions when I do.

The problem so far is the equipment and level progression makes you magnitudes stronger while you keep fighting the same (or slightly tougher versions) enemies. An enemy that might be a challenge at level 15 with appropriate equipment is a joke at level 25. A cyclops smacked my tank pawn yesterday and I didn't even see his health go down. Once you get a few durability augments and decent armor, you go from dying in a couple of hits (fun) to neigh-invulnerable (not so fun).

While I had a ton of fun fighting a Chimera while level 20, being very careful at all times, I also find it satisfying to jump and grab a Chimera with Abyssal Anguish on and then just slashing the beast up within 20 seconds. I guess it's just satisfying to kill an enemy very easily when it used to be a tough fight. Still, difficult fights will always be better and more fun.

Edit: There's no way the monsters scale in level. I need to hit a cyclops 3 times in the face to knock a whole health bar down, 20 levels ago hitting him once in the face would only take out an inch or two of his health.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Well, a cyclops isn't really supposed to be a challenge on it's own by that point. Go fight 2 cyclopses (armoured) + a group of bandits at the same time.

There's also the fact that heavy armour is only better against physical attacks (like a cyclops.) You'd likely notice if he got hit by a chimera's magic instead, even though those are of a similar level.

 

[DragoFireheart]

So Dragon's Dogma is a good buy?