Capcom Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

[Machocruz]

This game brings back some of that Morrowind feeling. You're pretty much assured some decent loot or a cool encounter when you go dungeon diving, and since nothing is scaled, you never know what you are going to get the first time through. And dat post-game content. I'm going back to every major location just to see if there are new monsters and NPC quests, and to see if I can get better treasure spawns.

I'm even more skeptical of the games media than I was before, which I didn't think was possible. This game is worthy of the pre-launch cheer-leading that KoA received, and it's as good as any action-RPG those scumbags have showered praise upon this generation. Not storyfaggy enough I guess, even though it outdoes the likes of The Witcher and Mass Effect in most other areas. Only people who actually like video games and don't need them to be validated via association with Hollywood will see this.

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!

Whatever consoles can do in the online space, PC can do 100 times better. This someone might be a console fanboy trying you justify why the game shouldn't be on PC. I mostly use offline pawns anyways, so they could just have that if there is problem with online implementation.

 

[Ninjerk]

The main thing that would make DD better would be actual multiplayer, sans pawns.

 

[Kem0sabe]

Better quests as well, the escort and kill x quests got old very fast, also something that got on my nerves a bit towards the end, was the ammount of trash mobs you had to clear to travel to any point in the map, and the garantee that they would be there again is you traveled through that zone again.

 

[felipepepe]

Yeah... the game had a decent roster of enemies, but 90% of the time you would be traveling the main map and fighting goblins, cyclops and lizards...

 

[Delterius]

For what its worth, the gameplay is solid so that killing a Cyclops is somewhat fun -- even though its really easy right off the bat, especially if you are a mage.

But, yeah, expanding the game's beastiary is a superb move for any RPG.

If there's one thing I wish they'd do is more handpicked loot.

Whatever consoles can do in the online space, PC can do 100 times better. This someone might be a console fanboy trying you justify why the game shouldn't be on PC. I mostly use offline pawns anyways, so they could just have that if there is problem with online implementation.

The person in question would actually be the producer, not a console fanboy.

The pawn system is also the reason why the game isn’t being released on PC, as the team found it “a bit difficult,” considering players will be able to borrow and lend out their pawn to other players. Still, the game could end up on other platforms besides PS3 and Xbox 360, possibly even Wii U providing the first outing does well, according to Kobayashi.

So here's hoping for Dragon's Dogma 2 on PC.

 

[Ninjerk]

Not that I think improving travel is a bad idea, but you could run past most of the trash on the road.

 

[SuicideBunny]

something that got on my nerves a bit towards the end, was the ammount of trash mobs you had to clear to travel to any point in the map, and the garantee that they would be there again is you traveled through that zone again.

a) use crystals, game is considerably better if you set up your crystals well
b) don't kill trash mobs, just run through/away

 

[Xi]

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.

The graphics in the expanded content are much better about this. Those giant vistas in the original are pushing the limited (console) RAM to its max, unfortunately. And this game did not have Skyrim's budget so the tech for better texturing just wasn't there. That's a gripe I have too, and of course, it would be a non-existent issue on PC.

 

[felipepepe]

if you're on the Xbox, there's a free update that gives you better textures; the PS3 already comes with it in-disc.

 

[Admiral jimbob]

this is a really good game

goofy as shit in a lot of ways and has some big flaws but it's so fun and has a great bizarre aesthetic under the surface

 

[Machocruz]

The person in question would actually be the producer, not a console fanboy.

The pawn system is also the reason why the game isn’t being released on PC, as the team found it “a bit difficult,” considering players will be able to borrow and lend out their pawn to other players. Still, the game could end up on other platforms besides PS3 and Xbox 360, possibly even Wii U providing the first outing does well, according to Kobayashi.

I see. Still doesn't explain why it would be difficult to implement. I've seen this kinds of shady reasoning from game companies before.

 

[Kem0sabe]

There are much more complex "mp" systems on pc, Dragons Dogma pawn system works just fine, you just need to choose if you want to be always connected or not.

 

[Cowboy Moment]

So, having finished Demon's Souls, this is next on my "good shit that didn't get a PC release" list. I'm currently around level 25, having just finished the Shadow Fort quest.

I'm really conflicted about this game, currently I consider it a flawed gem. It does some things extremely well, and others quite poorly, and I'm not sure yet how I feel about the whole package.

Easiest comparison is probably Gothic, there's a similar sense of risk/reward to the exploration. Combat feels better, and there's more depth to it, but the world is much less interesting, it feels like an artificial adventure sandbox in the vein of Forgotten Realms, except without being nearly as varied. I think the game would've been better off with a BG2-ish world design, instead of the fairly drab semi-realistic aesthetic it has. If you're going to go the vanilla fantasy route, may as well exploit that to the fullest, you don't want to be like Oblivion.

Character customization is fairly extensive, there seems to be a good amount of skills, multiple item slots with a separation between armor and clothing, and a ton of consumables. Shuffling all that between characters with a gamepad is tedious as fuck though, this is a game that would really benefit from a good mouse-driven interface. It would benefit from a PC version in general, given how poorly it runs.

One thing I really like is how traversable the world is, the ability to climb walls, run around roofs, levitate, enter buildings without loading screens, it all puts Bethesda's open worlds to shame in terms of tech. Pity the game doesn't seem to use it for anything.

Pawns are not as annoying as they could be, but, again, would benefit from a mouse-driven interface to give them a wider array of orders.

I feel like I haven't seen a lot of the content yet, so my opinions might change. I am curious what the team that made this would be capable of on machines with more than 512 MB of RAM.

 

[Delterius]

One thing I really like is how traversable the world is, the ability to climb walls, run around roofs, levitate, enter buildings without loading screens, it all puts Bethesda's open worlds to shame in terms of tech. Pity the game doesn't seem to use it for anything.

It kinda does. There are chests hidden all over in hard to reach places, not to mention the badge of vows quests. Furthermore, the spellcasters' game is one of positioning and terrain exploiting meaning that climbing up a rock is a great thing to do.

But more important than that are the shortcuts. In the original Dragon's Dogma, I assume that ferrystones were mostly about moving back to Gran Soren. There's a reason you can find one at the ending of most big quests and I think that the portcrystals (both moveable and the one they put in Cassardis) were something they added in Dark Arisen. And sometimes you can find shortcuts that allow you to skip great portions of terrain, such as taking the left before the northern mountain waycastle, bypassing the mountain itself while going back towards the encampment. There's also the deal where the shortcut into the back of Selene's hut can be accessed by certain classes (most notably Mage through levitation and the Mystic Knight through Sky Rapture as well, but maybe Striders et al can reach it with Double Vault).

These shortcuts aren't fully realized because the game itself isn't. It was clearly meant to be a much larger place (you can tell that from developer comments) and content itself isn't very well distributed. But such shortcuts are an alternative to what the TES series did and that Dark Arisen seems to have opted for (rampant teleportation, though at least DA's does require some of foresight on part of the player).

Dragon's Dogma really is the definition of a rough gem. Its a game that was rushed and, yet, its full of great ideas. Most importantly, its a functional rough gem. All is well and good in appreciating Arcanum's character creation and the backstories. As well as the freedom the game gives you. But the combat is abysmal and its too prevalent for its own good. Whereas games like Dragon's Dogma, for all their shortcomings, do feature excellent combat. The beastiary is nice and varied and, from what we've seen from Dark Arisen, it would only expand with the series' future). Pawns' following mechanism is surprisingly functional given how other games handle NPCs. The classes themselves feel amazingly different. The character creation isn't even purely cosmetic, the height and weight of your PC greatly affecting how you'll behave in certain combat encounters. Fuck, I even like the derpy expressions the protagonist makes.

I just wish this got a PC release. And a sequel. It doesn't even have to improve (though it certainly should). I'd thoroughly a Dragon's Dogma 2 that was every bit as much a rough gem as the first one.

 

[DragoFireheart]

As long as Crapom doesn't go FULL MORON we'll get a sequel.

 

[felipepepe]

As long as Crapom doesn't go FULL MORON we'll get a sequel.

ALL HOPE IS LOST.

 

[agentorange]

Just started playing. Who has it on PS3 so I can friend u and use ur pawns

I'm playing on hard, and I seem to be dying in pretty much 1 hit from everything - is that typical of early game encounters? It's kind of nice in a sense, makes me careful, very reminiscent of the first hours of Gothic games.

 

[Ninjerk]

It happens pretty fast until you get used to the gameplay. Wait until you go after the bandit guy.

 

[deuxhero]

agentorange Pretty much. Hard really just becomes meh latter on.

 

[haraw]

Just started playing. Who has it on PS3 so I can friend u and use ur pawns

I'm playing on hard, and I seem to be dying in pretty much 1 hit from everything - is that typical of early game encounters? It's kind of nice in a sense, makes me careful, very reminiscent of the first hours of Gothic games.

You can use my sorcerer pawn. Iirc she is 40-50lvl. My Ps3 gamer tag is wrekkoko

 

[Delterius]

Hard mode is really an interesting addition.

It all started very critical and so, what with even a sweet breeze being capable of one shotting my puny Mage. And so I was more careful than even before (when I felt bad whenever I received a hit from enemies I knew I could easily kill). And I'll admit, almost killing an Ogre only to be two shotted by a giant bat was pretty funny. But when I finished the Wyrmking's Ring I realized that I ultimately just relied more on pawns than ever before so I forfeited that playthrough. It was really fun because I learned a few tricks I hadn't before, but I guess I'm satisfied with normal mode.

One unrelated news, have any of you kept all the soldiers alive in Griffin's Bane? Supposedly Mercedes has some unique dialogue with you if you do so.

 

[agentorange]

thanks for the advice.

[redacted]

 

[DragoFireheart]

Hard mode is really an interesting addition.

It all started very critical and so, what with even a sweet breeze being capable of one shotting my puny Mage. And so I was more careful than even before (when I felt bad whenever I received a hit from enemies I knew I could easily kill). And I'll admit, almost killing an Ogre only to be two shotted by a giant bat was pretty funny. But when I finished the Wyrmking's Ring I realized that I ultimately just relied more on pawns than ever before so I forfeited that playthrough. It was really fun because I learned a few tricks I hadn't before, but I guess I'm satisfied with normal mode.

Now go do Bitterblack Isle.

HAVE FUN TROLOLOLOLOLOLOL

 

[agentorange]

holy shit. climbed up the back of a cyclops while it was on fire and rode it off a fucking waterfall to its death, and i survive because of that tentacle thing. p. fukin neat game

 

[Ebonsword]

holy shit. climbed up the back of a cyclops while it was on fire and rode it off a fucking waterfall to its death, and i survive because of that tentacle thing. p. fukin neat game

I remember doing something similar with an Ogre in one of the dungeons. I jumped on him when we was standing at the edge of ledge. Well, that overbalanced him and over the side we went.

When we hit bottom, though, I was on top. Him hitting first seems to have absorbed most of the impact, so I was damaged, but survived.


I was really impressed by that. How many ARPGs have a physics system that sophisticated?!