Capcom Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

[Amn Nom]

For anyone who doesn't have the game on PS+ yet or is on a 360, Amazon is gonna have a sale on it tomorrow at 9 AM PT. Echoing what everyone else in the thread said, its a real gem and doesn't deserve to be missed.

 

[Alchemist]

For anyone who doesn't have the game on PS+ yet or is on a 360, Amazon is gonna have a sale on it tomorrow at 9 AM PT. Echoing what everyone else in the thread said, its a real gem and doesn't deserve to be missed.

Thanks for the heads-up - I was planning to buy this soon. I had considered just signing up for PS+ for the free version but I think I'd rather own a more permanent copy.

 

[Delterius]

Oh ho, now this is new.

Spoiler

I hadn't realized that the second time you see the Elysium at the Recruitment Camp is actually a cue to go back to Cassardis. Every time I just talked straight to Mercedes and fought the Hydra and THEN I went to Cassardis and did its new quests. This time though I was treated to a nice little cutscene that turns the Salvation storyline into slightly less than a unpolished and disjointed sad state of affairs than it was before.

Its very likely that you all had seen this before, but I sure was surprised.

 

[Whisky]

Oh ho, now this is new.

Spoiler

I hadn't realized that the second time you see the Elysium at the Recruitment Camp is actually a cue to go back to Cassardis. Every time I just talked straight to Mercedes and fought the Hydra and THEN I went to Cassardis and did its new quests. This time though I was treated to a nice little cutscene that turns the Salvation storyline into slightly less than a unpolished and disjointed sad state of affairs than it was before.

Its very likely that you all had seen this before, but I sure was surprised.

...Actually, I'm done my second playthrough and I didn't know about this. What happens?

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

Just took down Grigori at level 49.

Hard Mode made the fight much more interesting. No longer can one nom on a ton of healing items to counteract hits or spam the crap out of Gouge/Hundred-Kisses on his heart; you have to fight him in a way that isn't cheap-ass.

Extremely fun. Now...to the Everfall or to the expansion area? Decisions, decisions...

Edit: All after heading to the Frontier Cavern to fight one of the most fun enemy types, of course.

 

[Delterius]

Oh ho, now this is new.

Spoiler

I hadn't realized that the second time you see the Elysium at the Recruitment Camp is actually a cue to go back to Cassardis. Every time I just talked straight to Mercedes and fought the Hydra and THEN I went to Cassardis and did its new quests. This time though I was treated to a nice little cutscene that turns the Salvation storyline into slightly less than a unpolished and disjointed sad state of affairs than it was before.

Its very likely that you all had seen this before, but I sure was surprised.

...Actually, I'm done my second playthrough and I didn't know about this. What happens?

Spoiler

Its a villanous speech by the Elysium. He doesn't say anything new to someone who played the game before, but it does paint him as a villain in a much more efficient way than the Gran Soren quests did for me.

 

[SuicideBunny]

you have to fight him in a way that isn't cheap-ass.

the only cheap-ass way to "fight" him is godslayer to the heart when he pops the question.

Extremely fun. Now...to the Everfall or to the expansion area?

farm some res stones in everfall before bitterblack is what i would recommend.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Wow, I did not know about that Elysium thing.

 

[Delterius]

The best part is that there doesn't seem to be a single video of this scene anywhere on Youtube. Its a forgotten part of the game. I feel so awesome for discovering it \o/.

Anyway, hard mode is actually rather fun. Sure, experience is inflated to compensate, but then you get to explore many more classes than normal.

 

[SuicideBunny]

you suck at googling
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfSDCjV7NkI
it's an easy scene to miss, though.

 

[Delterius]

Thanks. Funny how A)The video is branded as mature and B)There's a ton of comments asking how to get the scene.

 

[SuicideBunny]

it's an official video so it has the same rating as the game.

 

[Machocruz]

Finally got this game on Friday. Man, is it a good time. I forgot how to play an open world game that isn't a power fantasy. Have become unaccustomed to being able to take early quests that aren't necessarily supposed to be finished early. Ran into some trouble during an escort quest to Fort Shadow. Iron Hammer shield bandits were a right pain in the ass at lvl 14. Maybe I wasn't using my skills properly, but either the escortee or I died several times trying to beat my head against that wall, so I had to drop that quest for later. Probably would have made more sense to just run past them, but that's the brain on popamole.

I'm already lvl 24 but feel like I haven't even scratched the surface of the game, which is good or bad depending on the recommended end game level. Haven't felt the need or desire to switch vocations yet. I'm pretty satisfied with the Fighter vocation. Maybe I'll switch after I get the last couple of skills left.

The fail-able quests are kind of irritating. Like with the escort quest, I'm not liable to go deep into an area if I come across some tough enemies, but some of the quests require you to do so before you progress the story to certain points. Still haven't been to Witchwood, though it is probably not a problem now at lvl 24. The fear that I might out level the main quest by doing to many side quests compounds the annoyance.

 

[felipepepe]

Escort quests are annoying and pretty hardcore. NPCs die permanently, and you can lose a shop this way. And they are dumb as hell.

 

[Machocruz]

I think me being stupid had a lot to do with my troubles. Wasn't using heavy attacks or shield bashing to stagger shield bandits before they staggered me, was running around with that Rook pawn who was 8 levels below me, wasn't using stamina curatives, only buying one augment, wasn't running away like the loading screen prescribes. Basically using bad habits I acquired playing Skyrims and Amalurs.

And they are dumb. Pawns constantly lag behind trying to fight some shit, mages rooted in place trying to heal me even though I'm hauling ass away from trouble while giving the Come command, escorts lagging behind for no good reason.

Compounded by a travel system that goes too far the other way from Bethesderp. I would have liked a cost based travel system, as in Morrowind, maybe requiring ferrystones to horse or ship travel to pre-determined spots around the map. Those coastlines are just begging to be used as ship ports. Right now it's feeling like Divine Divinity with way more leg miles and dumb AI compinion.

 

[Amn Nom]

Escort quests are annoying and pretty hardcore. NPCs die permanently, and you can lose a shop this way. And they are dumb as hell.

Someone told me that you can pick them up and then ferrystone to the destination (provided you put down a marker beforehand obviously) to completely bypass the dumb AI.

 

[Machocruz]

Provided you've already visited the destination. In the beginning I didn't know this. I thought it would be some easy to get to location since you get the quest in the starting town.

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

And they are dumb. Pawns constantly lag behind trying to fight some shit, mages rooted in place trying to heal me even though I'm hauling ass away from trouble while giving the Come command, escorts lagging behind for no good reason

While the escorted NPCs are not the brightest bulbs, the combat effectiveness of pawns is tied heavily to their Inclination(s) and enemy knowledge, especially the former. Whatever inclination, or inclinations, are dominant determines the way the pawn's AI functions. Not all classes/movesets play well under any inclination; Scather on a Sorcerer pawn results in the hilarious tendency for them to climb upon large foes even though that's ineffectual in most cases and suicide in some. Guardian inclination on most pawns will greatly limit their effectiveness in combat because...well...it just plain sucks. Specific combinations of Inclinations play out poorly too; Pioneer and Guardian at at odds with one another and will often result in a pawn going back and forth between enemies and the Arisen.

Unfortunately, all of this isn't well documented in game...the descriptions of Inclinations don't shed a whole lot of light on how they work in detail nor the mechanics of how you influence your main pawn via actions. One has to consult external sources (Dragon's Dogma Wikia, forums) to obtain solid information.

But as general rules:

-Utilitarian is a very good inclination that makes pawns prioritize "special tactics" be they enemy-specific or group actions. If the pawn has a lot of knowledge about enemies and the right skills they can be quite fearsome. This is very useful for Mages/Sorcerers as well, making them choose spells much more effectively. Those of a Utilitarian bent

-Scather and Challenger are good Inclinations for melee pawns. Scather is especially useful for Striders, as it encourages them to climb up on big enemies (make sure they have Scarlet/Hundred Kisses for extra fun).

-Mendicant is interesting. It's a little annoying on Mages as they tend to spam heal, but on melee pawns it not only makes them use healing items often (making them much harder to get KO'd by enemies) but sometimes they'll rescue fallen companions from danger, carrying them to the Arisen for a pick-me-up. Could be useful.

-Avoid Guardian and Pioneer. I've never had good results with these, even individually. Unfortunately, they are the easiest Inclinations to raise up through actions (Guardian ticks up slightly whenever you use the "Come!" command). Consider hitting up the Rift Crystal shop in the Encampment (near the Riftstone where you created your main pawn) to buy Inclination Adjustment potions. Beware of rented pawns who might have these inclinations as well; they're prevalent on Capcom-provided pawns.

Back in my first experiences with vanilla Dragon's Dogma, I thought that pawns were pretty dumb. But once I learned about Inclinations I started finding that pawns were quite effective if properly chosen. Pretty opaque mechanic, though.

As for escort quests...they're pretty bad. Mostly they exist to greatly raise affinity for a given character. There's really not much in the way of valuable rewards besides one extremely well hidden escort quest. I'd avoid them, but I can't deny that trying to get Mercedes through the Quarry to the Shadow Fort made for a memorable experience. Female NPCs and ogres...good times.

Compounded by a travel system that goes too far the other way from Bethesderp. I would have liked a cost based travel system, as in Morrowind, maybe requiring ferrystones to horse or ship travel to pre-determined spots around the map.

If you are playing vanilla, then yes, the travel system is pants-on-head retarded. Basically there is only one placeable Portcrystal in the entire game (and in a very out of the way location)...except in New Game Plus where you can buy them for a hefty (read: significantly expensive) fee. It made zero sense to sandbag this feature. None whatsoever.

Dark Arisen somewhat fixes this feature by having ~6 deployable Portcrystals that can be found throughout the game (earlier and relatively more accessible), but it still is a baffling design decision. Making a tradeoff between spending gold on items/equipment or travel/quality-of-life worked perfectly in New Game Plus and would have been even better in a first cycle.

 

[Delterius]

In my experience, the Guardian inclination functioned well with my main Fighter pawn. He would save my Mage all the time, be it striking or aggroing enemies. Just don't change him into a Warrior.

What saved me against the Iron Hammer shieldbearers was how my Strider pawn, with the right skills and Challenger inclination, lasted long minutes in a fight even though the bastard pretty much one shotted any of us.

By the way, can't you use Wakestones in escort quests? I never tried, but I'd guess so.

 

[Edward_R_Murrow]

Wrapped up Bitterblack Isle. Pretty good experience overall and delivers the endgame content that the game really needed. Assorted thoughts in the spoiler tags.

Spoiler

-Some enemies that desperately needed upgrades got them. The Cyclops had plenty of interesting moves and animations but ceased to be threatening past the early game. While the regular Gorecyclops isn't much more threatening, the imprisoned version can be plenty dangerous, especially in pairs. The support capacity of the Siren was an interesting way to spin the Harpy-class of enemies, making them "dangerous" through a different manner than more health/resistances/debilitation-abilities. Giant-sized versions of previous foes was another cool touch; regular mooks that were climbable is pretty cool.

-The new "large" monsters are absolutely excellent. Eliminators are a great continuation of what the ogre was in the original game content; a brawny foe with mobility and surprising range. Living Armor are pretty interesting as well, though they seem a bit underutilized. The pair mechanics of Golden and Silver Knights played well; I would really have liked to see a bit more of them. I wonder how two-pair would play out...

-Necrophages add to the tension of exploring because one can never feel safe in Bitterblack; there's always a chance of powerful foes spawning to feast on the corpses of the enemies you slay. Garms and Elder Ogres are somewhat manageable, but things can quickly get out of hand when a Cursed Dragon or Death decide to show up in the middle of a fight.

-Bitterblack greatly rewards traversal skills with all sorts of well-hidden loot containers and pickups in spots that are difficult to access. Unlike the content in vanilla Dragon's Dogma, which didn't tend to place adequate rewards in hidden chests/gather-spots, Dark Arisen tends to stuff them with goodies like higher-tier gear, extremely powerful curatives, or cursed items to have purified. Gone are the days of finding a hidden chest only to be "rewarded" with a bad curative or a paltry sum of gold.

-Some of the optional arena encounters make the Chamber of Fate and the Chamber of Apprehension look like pitiful warmups. Things like double dragonkin encounters or triple chimeras with backup can quickly become a bit overwhelming to even seasoned Arisen. Apparently the free DLC can facilitate even crazier spawns. Multiple Evil Eye fights?

-I liked the two mini-boss fights in the isle. The first one seemed a little gimmicky, but the "wow-factor" made up for it; that was one enormous beholder. The Dark Bishop on the other hand was solid. A powerful spellcaster with an "immortal" companion made for a good scrap. Having to navigate a battlefield filled with debilitating clouds, magical mines, offensive magic, and a ravenous zombie drake all while trying to take it to an evil Pope levitating in the air was a bit of a rush. Ironically, the fight was a lot easier when the boss started using the possession ability to occupy the drake's body. Sure, the potency of it's magical greatly increased, but the consolidation of threats really eased up on the difficulty.

-Daimon was a superb way to wrap-up the content, definitely one of the best fights in an action-RPG, if not the best. He has a bevy of actions at his disposal, and mixes them up effectively and with alacrity, making for a varied and intense battle. I'm certain that he, like almost all action-RPG fights, can be pretty lame if you go in over-levelled or utilize some cheap build/tactic (e.g. people who parry Gwyn in Dark Souls like girly "men") but I seem to have hit the sweet spot. The Daimon scrum is really well done aesthetically as well. His animations are quite impressive, and I love the attitude he gives off with things like the neck-cracking taunt or the way he finishes his grabs; really drives home the appearance of power. Another bonus is that the soundtrack for the fight wasn't some generic-as-fuck "epic" music, but something a lot more unique. Then again, I liked Bayonetta's j-pop stuff, so what do I know?

Might go and try to kill Death or try and score an Ur-Dragon kill online. Then maybe I'll sit down and prepare something to troll the shit out of non-jRPGKawaiidex bros.

 

[LivingOne]

Wrapped up Bitterblack Isle. Pretty good experience overall and delivers the endgame content that the game really needed. Assorted thoughts in the spoiler tags.

Spoiler

-Some enemies that desperately needed upgrades got them. The Cyclops had plenty of interesting moves and animations but ceased to be threatening past the early game. While the regular Gorecyclops isn't much more threatening, the imprisoned version can be plenty dangerous, especially in pairs. The support capacity of the Siren was an interesting way to spin the Harpy-class of enemies, making them "dangerous" through a different manner than more health/resistances/debilitation-abilities. Giant-sized versions of previous foes was another cool touch; regular mooks that were climbable is pretty cool.

-The new "large" monsters are absolutely excellent. Eliminators are a great continuation of what the ogre was in the original game content; a brawny foe with mobility and surprising range. Living Armor are pretty interesting as well, though they seem a bit underutilized. The pair mechanics of Golden and Silver Knights played well; I would really have liked to see a bit more of them. I wonder how two-pair would play out...

-Necrophages add to the tension of exploring because one can never feel safe in Bitterblack; there's always a chance of powerful foes spawning to feast on the corpses of the enemies you slay. Garms and Elder Ogres are somewhat manageable, but things can quickly get out of hand when a Cursed Dragon or Death decide to show up in the middle of a fight.

-Bitterblack greatly rewards traversal skills with all sorts of well-hidden loot containers and pickups in spots that are difficult to access. Unlike the content in vanilla Dragon's Dogma, which didn't tend to place adequate rewards in hidden chests/gather-spots, Dark Arisen tends to stuff them with goodies like higher-tier gear, extremely powerful curatives, or cursed items to have purified. Gone are the days of finding a hidden chest only to be "rewarded" with a bad curative or a paltry sum of gold.

-Some of the optional arena encounters make the Chamber of Fate and the Chamber of Apprehension look like pitiful warmups. Things like double dragonkin encounters or triple chimeras with backup can quickly become a bit overwhelming to even seasoned Arisen. Apparently the free DLC can facilitate even crazier spawns. Multiple Evil Eye fights?

-I liked the two mini-boss fights in the isle. The first one seemed a little gimmicky, but the "wow-factor" made up for it; that was one enormous beholder. The Dark Bishop on the other hand was solid. A powerful spellcaster with an "immortal" companion made for a good scrap. Having to navigate a battlefield filled with debilitating clouds, magical mines, offensive magic, and a ravenous zombie drake all while trying to take it to an evil Pope levitating in the air was a bit of a rush. Ironically, the fight was a lot easier when the boss started using the possession ability to occupy the drake's body. Sure, the potency of it's magical greatly increased, but the consolidation of threats really eased up on the difficulty.

-Daimon was a superb way to wrap-up the content, definitely one of the best fights in an action-RPG, if not the best. He has a bevy of actions at his disposal, and mixes them up effectively and with alacrity, making for a varied and intense battle. I'm certain that he, like almost all action-RPG fights, can be pretty lame if you go in over-levelled or utilize some cheap build/tactic (e.g. people who parry Gwyn in Dark Souls like girly "men") but I seem to have hit the sweet spot. The Daimon scrum is really well done aesthetically as well. His animations are quite impressive, and I love the attitude he gives off with things like the neck-cracking taunt or the way he finishes his grabs; really drives home the appearance of power. Another bonus is that the soundtrack for the fight wasn't some generic-as-fuck "epic" music, but something a lot more unique. Then again, I liked Bayonetta's j-pop stuff, so what do I know?

Might go and try to kill Death or try and score an Ur-Dragon kill online. Then maybe I'll sit down and prepare something to troll the shit out of non-jRPGKawaiidex bros.

Spoiler

There's a secret boss if you complete it a 2nd time and all the encounters got overhauled for the occasion(there are 2 sets of encounters for each area,making the spawning of either death or necrophages more likely).

 

[Xi]

This game desperately needed a PC port. On PC, it would have been an amazing experience.

 

[Alchemist]

I started playing this last night and was enthralled for like four hours. Very impressed so far - nice level of detail and intricacy to everything. I could see sinking lots of hours into this.

This game desperately needed a PC port. On PC, it would have been an amazing experience.

Indeed I could totally see this doing great on the PC. My one criticism so far is the texture resolution can get quite low at times. They've done a good job with the environment design but could use sharper textures.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Someone said the Pawn system would be difficult to implement on PC, not sure how...just leave it crippled then, modders will fix it. Release it already, Capcom!

Resident Evil 7 is on the way, be patient.

Argh!

 

[Ninjerk]

Someone said the Pawn system would be difficult to implement on PC, not sure how...just leave it crippled then, modders will fix it. Release it already, Capcom!

Resident Evil 7 is on the way, be patient.

Argh!

Press X to cancel development!