Capcom Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I am still adventuring through BBI. For the most part I can do solid damage to everything, but I still routinely encounter rather ordinary foes that I can barely scratch. For example, there are slow wailing zombies that even fire and holy take forever to harm, or some spellcasting goblins that I could only do significant damage to by force pushing them off a ledge.

I had a fun fight with a gold and silver knight duo, another spawned elder ogre, and something that seemed a cross between and ogre and cyclopes. I am now at a boss that is an undead priest with a pet undead dragon. I can't seem to damage the priest, but he doesn't pose much threat. The pet dragon can one-shot me, but I can typically kill it <30 seconds anyway. I think I will be able to figure out this fight without having to change skills. I hope so at least. I don't want to do the back tracking just for that.

 

[Stoned Ape]

I am still adventuring through BBI. For the most part I can do solid damage to everything, but I still routinely encounter rather ordinary foes that I can barely scratch. For example, there are slow wailing zombies that even fire and holy take forever to harm, or some spellcasting goblins that I could only do significant damage to by force pushing them off a ledge.

I had a fun fight with a gold and silver knight duo, another spawned elder ogre, and something that seemed a cross between and ogre and cyclopes. I am now at a boss that is an undead priest with a pet undead dragon. I can't seem to damage the priest, but he doesn't pose much threat. The pet dragon can one-shot me, but I can typically kill it <30 seconds anyway. I think I will be able to figure out this fight without having to change skills. I hope so at least. I don't want to do the back tracking just for that.

Failing anything else more sensible, it's entirely possible to kill the undead bishop if you chuck a lot of Throwblasts at him. I think it's possible to kill just about everything in the game with them if you carry enough of them.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I killed the bishop. I capitulated and ran back to the merchant to change Misasma out for Maelstrom. I had to fight my way back through every spawn and miniboss, but oh well. When I got back, I killed the dragon in 1 Bolide and the Bishop in 3 Maelstroms. Very anticlimatic. The nice thing about heading back is I purified some bitterblack stuff. I got not only a Dragon's Risen, but a Solar Providence. I was able to upgrade the later to L3 and the former to L1. It was a big jump in power for me. Now I can actually hit Elder Ogers for decent damage. The pose about as much threat to me as a regular ogre did at Level 30. I think I'm now in the low 70s. I've resumed plowing my way through Bitterblack Isle. This place is huge, but I can't imagine it going much deeper.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Last night I got to what is presumably the end boss of Bitterblack Isle. My pawns all got killed several levels above in an encounter with Death and a Lich. I wasn't able to ressurect them the entire way down because I burned all of my RC on these "holy lights". I was igniting each one, thinking that they would be necessary to unlock the next level--but I was entirely wrong. As such, I was unable to reconstitute damaged Wake Stones, or whatever the portal for pawns are called. I haven't killed death yet. I think I could, but damage is very slow going. It usually teleports away after several minutes.

The last mini-boss I fought was a spectral knight that was immune to everything except Bolide, so I presume he was otherwise magic damage immune. Glaciel did nothing though. It was an easy fight despite that. I ended up standing on a tree branch and just nuking him. I wouldn't have minded that kind of cheese as a teenager, but it certainly bugged me. That Dragon's Dogma is a very deliberate game suggests the designers were OK with this, but I'd still rather not. The final area prior to the boss was quite spectacular. The underground city with the bridge over the chasm in the distance looked great. I was expecting some major fights here, but there wasn't one. Just some plot exposition by ghosts.

I found some Moonstones, which I think unlock doors at the surface level of Bitterblack Isle. I don't think I'll be able to take the final boss solo (sorcerer is too slow), so I need to town portal back up anyway to get pawns or harvest RC. I found another Dragon's Risen for my pawn, so that was cool too.

 

[Stoned Ape]

The underground city with the bridge over the chasm in the distance looked great. I was expecting some major fights here, but there wasn't one. Just some plot exposition by ghosts.

After you've cleared BBI once it refills the dungeon with different encounters including some more powerful monster variants that you don't face on your first run, an extended final boss fight, and higher rated BBI gear/weapons/novelties in lower dungeon loot chests. At that point the city gets filled with some things to keep you entertained...

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I went back up and returned with pawns. It didn't take me very long surprisingly. When I came back, the city was populated. Undead, some flying creatures with the model of the gargoyle, but with a demon skin, and death. I can handle everything here except death. That's not to say it's easy. The flyers are hyper aggressive and tough. Killing the undead is rocket tag, particularly with the archers. I barely scratch death though. I'm Level 73 have something like 1400 magic stat. I'm probably way too weak for it. I've did watch a couple of videos. Everyone is either maxed out level and gear or they cheese it with a knockdown over a chasm. I'd rather not do that.

 

[Carceri]

After you unlock BBI's final form, the Fallen City will be host to the most hectic fights in the game. Right now it is just the calm before the storm.

Spoiler

It's also the place that holds the elusive Cursed Dragon (usually)3rd star knowledge for the pawn

 

[Black]

Us DD1 bastards were right all along.

 

[ferratilis]

Haven't played DD2 yet, but I've read a comment somewhere that summarizes it as "they remastered the unrealized potential of the first game, with some parts missing" So with him leaving, DD1 stays cemented as the better of the two?

 

[cvv]

Haven't played DD2 yet, but I've read a comment somewhere that summarizes it as "they remastered the unrealized potential of the first game, with some parts missing" So with him leaving, DD1 stays cemented as the better of the two?

Eh... DD2 edges out the first game in my book because it looks better (duh), the world is bigger and the exploration even more enjoyable.

And everything else stays about the same.

 

[Alienman]

Us DD1 bastards were right all along.

What was that?

 

[Black]

That DD1 is superior.

 

[jaekl]

Can confirm, played dd1 again after quitting dd2 in disgust and it was much better. Even just being able to move around in the game fluidly and your character isn't sliding off shit or climbing on everything against your will made it 1000x more enjoyable. Plus the map size and amount of combat encounters are *just right*.

 

[Zariusz]

DD1 is generally superior but DD2 has much better world exploration (sadly without practically any real dungeons) and DD2 Warrior is better on every level.

 

[Silverfish]

Us DD1 bastards were right all along.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

I killed the Daimon at Level 92 or some such. Really good fight, but annoying. I ultimately did it with a party of sorcerers and mages oddly enough. I had to pump consumables and use tomes like crazy. I went back to earlier areas to unlock, and ended up fighting an electric drake. Not really a threat, but took fucking forever to kill. I will probably just try and beat the game now.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Is there some kind of trigger to provoke the Griffin near the Hillfigure Knoll? I can sometimes see it flying into the mountains just before dusk, but this is rare. I generally never see it, and when I do it never lands.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Is there some kind of trigger to provoke the Griffin near the Hillfigure Knoll? I can sometimes see it flying into the mountains just before dusk, but this is rare. I generally never see it, and when I do it never lands.

Dunno, drop some meat or something.

 

[Carceri]

Is there some kind of trigger to provoke the Griffin near the Hillfigure Knoll? I can sometimes see it flying into the mountains just before dusk, but this is rare. I generally never see it, and when I do it never lands.

Try to be there earlier, during the day. There is a goblin camp nearby (to the left). It helps if you start killing some of them. You can also grab one of the corpses and try to stand still. Also, any pawn that has this knowledge will help and do the same. It's still not guaranteed to get this stupid bird's attention, but it will improve the odds.

 

[Late Bloomer]

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

So I slayed The Dragon. Not a very hard battle at Level 95. Miasma and High Frigor on the heart made short work of it. I'm very impressed that there seems to be an entire post-game where the environments are altered, but I'm not confident I will continue. I don't find the itemization in this game very interesting and there are no new spells for me to learn. I might try a few things, but in all probability I'm done with the game. Dragon's Dogma was a really fun adventure. I'm not sure where I will put it on my rankings, but it will get serious consideration for my top 10.

 

[Late Bloomer]

I'm very impressed that there seems to be an entire post-game where the environments are altered, but I'm not confident I will continue.

Dude, you must continue

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

So I slayed The Dragon. Not a very hard battle at Level 95. Miasma and High Frigor on the heart made short work of it. I'm very impressed that there seems to be an entire post-game where the environments are altered, but I'm not confident I will continue. I don't find the itemization in this game very interesting and there are no new spells for me to learn. I might try a few things, but in all probability I'm done with the game. Dragon's Dogma was a really fun adventure. I'm not sure where I will put it on my rankings, but it will get serious consideration for my top 10.

You haven't seen the true ending of the base game yet (return to Gran Soren), and you ruined the Dragon battle and the "post-game" by first completing Bitterblack Isle, as a consequence of which you are drastically overlevelled for the conclusion of the base game.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Zed Duke of Banville Well, I don't know how much I ruined the dragon. I slayed my first dragon at level 28 I think. The great dragon's attack sequences were kind of dull. It still took me about 10 minutes to kill it. About the same amount of time as a post Daimon BBI dragon. Considering that The Great Dragon lets you leave and come back when you feel ready tells me my approach didn't break the encounter. I also didn't care for the QTE sections.

Thanks for the tip on going back to Gran Soren. I will check it out. The story is easily the weakest part of the game, so hopefully there is some kind of twist to help keep me engaged.