Capcom Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

[Machocruz]

Btw, I meant last DA boss, Daimon.

Fun fact: Abyssal Anguish and maximum height lets the MK reach a high dragon's heart with simple jump attacks. Throw in a enchant into the mix and they become trivial.

Can you reach the wing tips like that? I'm down to one and a half rounds for him. Half a round is for the wings which I usually don't get before he flies away the first round.

As for the Great Magick Cannon, make sure to use both Demon's AND Conquerors Perhipts: GMC, along with some other Mystic Knight skills, pull 40%/60% from Attack and Magic Attack respectively. Get the highest damage Mace possible, buff with the element the boss is weak to, and wail away at the GMC.

I will try this for the second Daimon encounter, both forms. Melee with CP isn't fun to me.

 

[CyberP]

I own this game. I played up until the first village, at which point I was underwhelmed and put it down. I acknowledge this may have been a mistake, as RPGs need time to develop, but I was put off by many things:

1. Pawns. I need not say no more.
2. Music. Where is it? I should have heard at least one memorable track by this point, but I expect too much from modern games perhaps.
3. Quests. Typical fetch quest filler bullshit.
4. Uninspired first town. Dull as fuck.
5. RPG systems, they just didn't seem very meaningful, but certainly way too early to judge.
6. Combat. Ties into pawns. Another aspect that's too early to judge but first impressions do count. In fact there's not much to judge when my pawns are slaying them all and healing me constantly on hard difficulty that I was put off from summoning them at all.

About the only thing that impressed me was that there were secret areas and jump functionality, though that's not really impressed so much as pleasantly surprised, as it's a modern game. I think I'll stick with Dark Souls,Castlevania: SOTN, Onimusha: DOD, or even to a lesser extent Ninja Gaiden/Devil May Cry if I want a J-ARPG fix. This was not a good first impression that's for sure. Oh, I'm forgetting that you could pick NPCs up and throw them, that's hilarious, but for some reason this is limited to some humans in the town, not all...

 

[Clockwork Knight]

You can pick up humanoid-size enemies and throw them to cause damage.

 

[DragoFireheart]

You can pick up humanoid-size enemies and throw them to cause damage.

Which means you can throw your pawns off a cliff and solo if you dislike them.

 

[Delterius]

1. Pawns. I need not say no more.

Of course you do.

 

[SuicideBunny]

I own this game. I played up until the first village, at which point I was underwhelmed and put it down.

umm, there is only one village and you start in it... did you play until the mercenary camp or the city?

 

[DragoFireheart]

I own this game. I played up until the first village, at which point I was underwhelmed and put it down.

umm, there is only one village and you start in it... did you play until the mercenary camp or the city?

He said he was playing on Hard.

He probably got knocked down by wolves on the way to witchwood and they gangbanged him via ground chew.

 

[praetor]

people, let's not ignore the most obvious explanation here:

 

[DragoFireheart]

people, let's not ignore the most obvious explanation here:

It's a possible explanation.

 

[Delterius]

I agree. Drago may be an undisputed queen of faggotry but he's alright when it comes to Dragon's Dogma.

 

[CyberP]

So what you are all saying is I should continue? I won't settle for "decent considering it's a modern game", so it better be top-rate. Standards bitches, you got them in abundance?

 

[DragoFireheart]

Sopor

Invokes a magickal sigil around the user that lulls foes who enter it into slumber.

Surprised I don't see many people mention this Mystic Knight skill. Makes Ogres, Cyclops, Garms, and Elder Ogres cake. Use a Rusted Staff at 3 three or higher and now they get Slow and Sleep.

So what you are all saying is I should continue? I won't settle for "decent considering it's a modern game", so it better be top-rate. Standards bitches, you got them in abundance?

Game is hard at first, then gets easier past level 25-30ish, then it continues to be easy until Final Boss, then it has a difficulty spike post-game, and then it gets much harder in the expansion.

I consider it top rate.

 

[Delterius]

So what you are all saying is I should continue? I won't settle for "decent considering it's a modern game", so it better be top-rate. Standards bitches, you got them in abundance?

Frankly, no because I don't know a lot about your playthrough. If killing the first Cyclops and the Hydra wasn't an interesting beginning then you probably shouldn't.

Sopor

Invokes a magickal sigil around the user that lulls foes who enter it into slumber.

Surprised I don't see many people mention this Mystic Knight skill. Makes Ogres, Cyclops, Garms, and Elder Ogres cake. Use a Rusted Staff at 3 three or higher and now they get Slow and Sleep.

As a Mystic Knight I used to deal with giants by stacking those trap sigils that cause damage. Three of those and the ogre drops down quickly enough.

Since I lost that save file, I'd like to know your opinion on the skills that puts a holy aura on the shield. I never bothered blocking attacks since dodging is so easy, but can that ability, say, block a drake's claw or the cyclops' mace?

 

[The Fish]

I played the original Dragon's Dogma when it came out but never really thought of buying Dark Arisen. Is it really that much of an improvement? surely it's all the same abilities and largely similar enemies? Also, if you start over do you have to play through the main campaign again?

 

[Machocruz]

Dark Arisen is much better experience. It shows DD to be one of those games that would have been better off with more focused world design. The environment is more immersive than anything in the original game. There are new enemies, a couple of them new variations of old monsters, and they're all pretty tough. I've seen people start the extra content as soon as they could get to Bitterblack Isle, but you'll at least want to 'unlock' Gran Soren for the merchants there. But I would recommend getting some levels in vanilla as BI is like NG+ in the Souls games. With smart tactics you can survive at low levels. Even better if you know where to get some good starting gear on the island, but that depends on knowing which chests spawn what gear, which you'll need a wiki for.

There is also a new system that makes areas not so safe, even if you kill the enemies...

 

[Delterius]

Dark Arisen comes with 3 new classes and quite a bit of content in the expansion. Those classes are hybrid alternatives to what you have in place but have mostly new abilities. The expansion is quite great, its content delivers a much more focused experience on killing monsters instead of aping open world RPGs. Unfortunately, its mostly tuned for characters that have already finished the main campaign and I'm pretty sure you'll have to start over.

On the upside, the expansion also added quite a few more Portcrystals.

There's also Hard and Speedrun modes included. The latter is self explanatory whereas the former consists of greatly amped damage dealing from monsters as well as gains in experience and gold. I wouldn't recommend it for a fresh start though. I reached the Griffon Quest on a fresh Hard Mode start so its perfectly doable, but then again I realized that I just relied more on pawns than ever before. Its clearly meant as a harder version of New Game+.

Fun facts I hadn't noticed before.

Spoiler

You can use the Salvation Robes as a third option in acquiring the key for the second catacombs quest. You'll pretend to be a convert and acquire another key to salvation that brings you into the crypts from above. I had always wondered why there was a permanently locked door next to the elevator, now I know.

You can actually save the third soldier from the Griffon quest, the one that dies when you are fleeing from the Griffon through the tower's ramp. In fact, that's what Mercedes asked you to do. By the way, what a stupid name.

 

[SerratedBiz]

Dark Arisen comes with 3 new classes and quite a bit of content in the expansion. Those classes are hybrid alternatives to what you have in place but have mostly new abilities.

The hybrid classes are all part of the original DD.

 

[DragoFireheart]

You know, having now played most of the classes (haven't touched Strider or Mage yet), Mystic Knight is stupidly ridiculous in retrospect. Cannons stacked on Sigils and then TRIGGERING like some batshit insane feminist slows my game to a crawl and just nukes everything (second only to Ricochet Hunter in a small room). Even with the pitifully low strength gain, Abyssal Anguish + regular attacks/Burst Strike kills enemies stupidly fast on a level comparable to the Assassin. It also helps that Maces have strength levels nearly equal to two-handed weapons: the best Mace from Dark Arisen is only 100 points weaker than the best Warhammer (2001 compared to 2100!).

I may have to knock down Assassin as 2nd most powerful class overall (ignoring silliness of things like Tenfold Arrows with stacks of Blast Arrows).

 

[Delterius]

Well, I pegged the MK as the most broken job when I realized you can spam Holy Furor to your heart's content.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Well, I pegged the MK as the most broken job when I realized you can spam Holy Furor to your heart's content.

Funny, that skill always seemed so weak damage wise. But it is spammable so I guess that makes it useful for wiping out hordes of undead.

The problem is what do I remove to make room for it? Abyssal Anguish and two Trances to hit enemy weaknesses is what I typically use.

 

[Delterius]

Well, I pegged the MK as the most broken job when I realized you can spam Holy Furor to your heart's content.

Funny, that skill always seemed so weak damage wise. But it is spammable so I guess that makes it useful for wiping out hordes of undead.

The problem is what do I remove to make room for it? Abyssal Anguish and two Trances to hit enemy weaknesses is what I typically use.

Personally? I really like variety in skill selection. My thought process is this: I want to always be able to do different kinds of stuff. That sort of downplays the elemental minigame: even as a Sorcerer I never took more than one elemental blessing with me. So I'd walk around with Abyssal Anguish, Holy Fortress (and I guess Furor) and a specific Trance that I picked ahead of time. Its not always more efficient, but there's some fun in finding unlikely uses for less stellar abilities.

 

[DragoFireheart]

Personally? I really like variety in skill selection. My thought process is this: I want to always be able to do different kinds of stuff. That sort of downplays the elemental minigame: even as a Sorcerer I never took more than one elemental blessing with me. So I'd walk around with Abyssal Anguish, Holy Fortress (and I guess Furor) and a specific Trance that I picked ahead of time. Its not always more efficient, but there's some fun in finding unlikely uses for less stellar abilities.

I feel like it's a pain to have only one element around. For pre-Dragon I want fire and holy (maybe ice if I feel like killing lizards). For post-dragon, pre-BBI, I want ice and holy. For BBI, I want ice and lightning. I guess you could use some Staff spells to help make up for a lack of elemental damage, but other than Sopor most of them are just regular ole Mage spells.

What Sword/Mace skills do you run? I use Burst Strike - Cannon - Ruinous Sigil.

 

[Machocruz]

I don't chase random drops in games. I'll give something no more than 5 chances to spawn then I move on, unless it's a boss fight, then I'll keep repeating it until I get something good. I have Shooting Star, which is the third best mace in the game, and I think I bought it instead of purifying gear.

I always have Blessed Trance set because a lot of stuff in BBI is weak to Holy. Abyssal Anguish for Dark, and Lightning Trance. Fire and Ice I leave to pawns.

 

[Delterius]

I used to run Sky Rapture - Ruinous Sigil - Great Cannon.

Why Rapture in place of Burst Strike? - you may ask. Because of a mini game I invented for myself: take down harpies in mid flight with Sky Rapture. It can also be used to strike right through big enemies, which coupled with a great knockdown potential becomes a fun tool against Ogres and Chimeras.

When I stopped playing however I was quite curious about Stone Grove and considered using it instead of Great Cannon. Cannon is awesome, don't get me wrong. But the frame rate drop gets old fast.

 

[DragoFireheart]

When I stopped playing however I was quite curious about Stone Grove and considered using it instead of Great Cannon. Cannon is awesome, don't get me wrong. But the frame rate drop gets old fast.

Ah yes, Stone Grove. Pretty sure it's a instant kill against anything weak to fire once you get the 3rd tier via BBI. Too bad the casting time is a bit slow.

And yeah the slowdown from Cannons is annoying. Also. capes clipping through the giant shield is annoying as well.

I don't chase random drops in games. I'll give something no more than 5 chances to spawn then I move on, unless it's a boss fight, then I'll keep repeating it until I get something good. I have Shooting Star, which is the third best mace in the game, and I think I bought it instead of purifying gear.

I also don't like random drops as they tend to make me neurotic and that ruins the fun most of the time.