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Capcom Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

Ebonsword

Arcane
Joined
Mar 7, 2008
Messages
2,339
IIRC you can actually kill the golems without getting all their gems, I think you can overkill some medallions or they take extra damage in rage mode or something? I forget. They are a total PITA though, the worst is when the last gem is on it's foot, make sure to get that one early when it's frozen.

I usually don't have too much trouble with golems. But maybe I'm just lucky with my pawn selections--I always seem to hire Ranger/Strider pawns who basically solo golems in about 30 seconds.
 

Matador

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jun 14, 2016
Messages
1,642
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This threaed should be closed until DD2. People playing this for the first time in 2019 deserve no respect unless they are less than 18 years old.
 

sullynathan

Arcane
Joined
Dec 22, 2015
Messages
6,473
Location
Not Europe
I sure love the sorcerer but it has one grave flaw. You can't manually lock on. It is really annoying when you want to target a spider in front of you, or a Griffon above you or ward on a tree and the game just won't do so with its auto lock.

Other than that the vocation is great and really opens up when you get some spells rolling in. Fuck, if only the pawns were as competent as I am. Pull back, let the tank fight and cast bolide or fulmination.

It also hit me that V from Devil May Cry 5 could easily fit in the game with proper summons. Capcom handled the controls and moveset slightly better in DMC5 by giving manual lock-on, greater moveset and allowing you to choose to make your familiars auto attack on the fly with better ai than the pawns.

The Griffin is also pretty great as a random encounter. So far, it's definitely been the best creature of the game next to the chimera because it doesn't appear as frequently and takes better use of the grappling mechanic of the game. Partners weighing it down so it doesn't fly high and it crashing down due to too much damage is always a visual treat. If they can take it a further step like monster hunter and allow you to damage its wings to the point it can't keep flying, that would be great for a sequel.

The golem is just pure shit and turned me off from a full magic party. I went to find Selene in the woods and ended up fighting a golden. 2 sorcerers, 1 mage, 1 strider. This shitty fight took 20 minutes because golems don't take damage anywhere else but the discs on their body and those discs are only harmed by physical attacks. Every single fucking spell was useless and did no damage while my dumbass strider pawn was just running around or not attacking. Once we destroyed all the other discs the final one, was again, under the foot of the golem so we had to wait for it to fall on its knees to actually damage it. We had to do this twice because the pawns don't even attack immediately they see the weakness.

This just forced me to be picky and look up a bit more about pawn inclination. Pretty much I'm only picking certain pawns that attack on sight or use items frequently. It's not perfect but their performance is better than previous pawns.

Pawns knowing info about quests have been mostly useless. They primarily give vague info or directions on quests that have quest markers so they're less useful for those quests.
The only quest itsbeen useful is Valmiro leaving the village and my pawn telling me what type of meat he wants and where I can buy pendants for him.

On a more positive note, nights and fast travel are pretty great. It's dark as it should be, you have a lantern instead of carrying a torch on your off hand, reducing your combat potential like every other rpg. Goblins/wolves/bandits spawn day and night but in most areas undead, skeletons, wights and phantoms spawn instead changing up how you approach those areas. Phantoms were annoying when I didn't use magic because pawns suck and can't use their spells right but as a magic user they're feasible to fight now.
 
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Damned Registrations

Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
Joined
Feb 24, 2007
Messages
15,010
Just to make sure, you know about the toggle for switching between free targetting and lockon mode with spells right? It can be pretty important for certain spells.

I can't recall quest info being of much use on pawns but monster info sure makes a difference between them hitting enemies in their weakpoints or not.
 

Shrimp

Arbiter
Joined
Jun 7, 2019
Messages
1,058
It's been a while since I played the game so I might be wrong, but I believe pawns having quest knowledge just makes them provide a hint on how to proceed with a quest once you accept it.
If I recall correctly half of the time they just restate the quest instructions given to you by the NPC that assigned the quest to begin with.
 

mogwaimon

Magister
Joined
Jul 21, 2017
Messages
1,079
Yea, if you're using a gamepad you can alter targets to an extent using the right analog stick IIRC while casting the spell. Also don't discount a full magic party just yet, later in the game it gets ridiculous when you have multiple sorcerers in a party since apparently sorcerer spells get a damage bonus when you cast them at the same time as another party member.

Oh, another tip, you can get more fast travel points by placing portcrystals throughout the world. You should have access to at least one or two areas where they can be picked up by now, and great places to put them include Blue Moon Tower where you fought the griffin, that castle in the northwest that you stumbled upon after the female bandit fort, and other out of the way places. It'll save you a lot of time later on, and they remain active even through new game plus.
 

sullynathan

Arcane
Joined
Dec 22, 2015
Messages
6,473
Location
Not Europe
Oh, another tip, you can get more fast travel points by placing portcrystals throughout the world. You should have access to at least one or two areas where they can be picked up by now, and great places to put them include Blue Moon Tower where you fought the griffin, that castle in the northwest that you stumbled upon after the female bandit fort, and other out of the way places. It'll save you a lot of time later on, and they remain active even through new game plus.
Already ahead of you, I've played 6 or 7 and one near bluemoon tower, hopefully there's more.
Just to make sure, you know about the toggle for switching between free targetting and lockon mode with spells right? It can be pretty important for certain spells
I'm using a controller, I don't know about a toggle
 

DragoFireheart

all caps, rainbow colors, SOMETHING.
Joined
Jun 16, 2007
Messages
23,731
The golem is just pure shit and turned me off from a full magic party. I went to find Selene in the woods and ended up fighting a golden. 2 sorcerers, 1 mage, 1 strider. This shitty fight took 20 minutes because golems don't take damage anywhere else but the discs on their body and those discs are only harmed by physical attacks. Every single fucking spell was useless and did no damage while my dumbass strider pawn was just running around or not attacking. Once we destroyed all the other discs the final one, was again, under the foot of the golem so we had to wait for it to fall on its knees to actually damage it. We had to do this twice because the pawns don't even attack immediately they see the weakness.

Have four sorcs and spam the meteor spell. It'll kill the Golem quick.
 

Damned Registrations

Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
Joined
Feb 24, 2007
Messages
15,010
The golem is just pure shit and turned me off from a full magic party. I went to find Selene in the woods and ended up fighting a golden. 2 sorcerers, 1 mage, 1 strider. This shitty fight took 20 minutes because golems don't take damage anywhere else but the discs on their body and those discs are only harmed by physical attacks. Every single fucking spell was useless and did no damage while my dumbass strider pawn was just running around or not attacking. Once we destroyed all the other discs the final one, was again, under the foot of the golem so we had to wait for it to fall on its knees to actually damage it. We had to do this twice because the pawns don't even attack immediately they see the weakness.

Have four sorcs and spam the meteor spell. It'll kill the Golem quick.
The bigass ice spell should work too. Super secret sorc tech the game devs don't want you to know:
These spells do pure magic damage: Anything lightning, the first two fire and ice spells, the status spells (poison/blind/petrify), maelstrom.
These spells do hybrid damage, and won't scratch certain enemies that are nearly immune to physical damage, but WILL fuck up a golem: bolide, seism, and gicel.

But fuck damage, learn high Exequy and snuff the fucker out like a boss.
 

Damned Registrations

Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
Joined
Feb 24, 2007
Messages
15,010
Probably don't have a good enough staff to get past it's defense. Exequy works for sure, if you can pull it off, which is easier said than done for a golem. But it's a hell of a lot faster if you're tickling it to death.
 

sullynathan

Arcane
Joined
Dec 22, 2015
Messages
6,473
Location
Not Europe
Probably don't have a good enough staff to get past it's defense. Exequy works for sure, if you can pull it off, which is easier said than done for a golem. But it's a hell of a lot faster if you're tickling it to death.
strength or magicka? I have a dark staff that's the best right now. I also beat a cockatrice.
 

Damned Registrations

Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
Joined
Feb 24, 2007
Messages
15,010
Strength. The physical component of sorc spells scales only off the strength stat of the weapon itself. It's weird, although it makes sense that the buffness of a wizard wouldn't affect their spells. That staff actually has especially low strength stat compared to it's magick stat. Well, it's not worth caring about just for that one scenario.

Did the cockatrice instagib anyone? They can be a nightmare or a total joke depending on your loadout.

Your jumping melee range energy blast thingy does phys damage, as will your climbing attack.
 

Damned Registrations

Furry Weeaboo Nazi Nihilist
Joined
Feb 24, 2007
Messages
15,010
Well you suck at meaning things then. 'Normal bolts' would obviously imply the shooty orb things, since bolts are things you shoot.
 

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