Capcom Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

[sser]

I think this game looks great. I also think it won't sell well in the West so the price should drop pretty quick a la Lost Planet 2.

 

[praetor]

I think this game looks great. I also think it won't sell well in the West so the price should drop pretty quick a la Lost Planet 2.

i really hope so 'cause i'm strapped for jewgold at the moment (and importing here is pretty expensive) and i really really want to play this thing

 

[Jasede]

Need some more opinions, bros. Come on, be my guinea pigs!

 

[funkadelik]

I was about to start a thread too asking if some of the NA codexers have it already.



After watching the video there, i am thinking definitively incline , lifiting a guard levitating on a roof and throwing him down, nothing can go wrong .



Clearly a monster hunter feel as well there.

I found only one review but i dont thin it has much credibility, http://www.jeuxvideo.com/articles/0001/00017004-dragon-s-dogma-test.htm, 14/20 , thats not very good , but that site gives score according to the bribe they receive nowadays, 18/20 diablo 3 18/20 skyrim (+ a special top 10 best rpgs of the history with skyrim on top right when it released)

Holy shit, DSouls, Monster Hunter, AND Shadow of the Colossus feel! I will definitely get this at a reduced price.

 

[felipepepe]

If they just abandoned the "pawns"companions and let me play solo, like Dark Souls...the battles in the demo felt like an MMO, I could stay put and the companions would do everything for me...

Well, I guess I can create an archer pawn and never level her up, so she keeps away without doing anything...

 

[Ebonsword]

I got it last night and played for three or four hours.

I *love* the world exploration aspects of it. So far, there have been many little hidden things to find scattered throughout the countryside. I haven't found anything that powerful so far, but I have obtained some seemingly-rare crafting items, a few strong one-use healing items, a few concealed caches of money, etc.

Movement is great, with much smoother control than, say, Oblivion. For example, I came acoss a fort which had some scaffolding set up in one portion of it. I could run up to the scaffolding, jump up, grab on to a cross piece, and climb my way up to the top, all very smoothly. Another time, I was exploring along the edge of a cliff, got too close to the edge, and slipped off. My character turned and caught himself at the last minute, so, there I was, hanging by my fingertips over a hundred foot drop. I was then able to climb back onto the cliff. Pretty cool!

I have some mixed feelings about the combat system, though. A lot of the time, I feel like I'm not really contributing and that my pawns are having all of the fun. That could just be the class I picked, though (Fighter). I think I may reroll as a Strider and see if I like that more.

Also, I think that the game can definitely be fairly challenging. I received a quest to explore some caves beneath the starting village, and I received multiple bad beat downs from the denizens therein. So, I think I'm going to try and level a bit more and come back later.

 

[The Ticktockman]

I had a tough time with the cave under the starting village too. I found it helped to have two mages in my group so we could keep hitting them with either fire-, ice-, or lightning-enchanted weapons. Ice and lightning work really well since the creatures hang out in the water. Fire works pretty well because it causes them to start rolling on their backs in the water, exposing their soft underbelly. Also, be careful about jumping in the water, which will cause your lantern to go out (side note: the way the game handles light and darkness is fucking awesome. You know how we always whine about games like Skyrim not having dark enough dungeons? Dragon's Dogma totally understands how to make a dark cave scary). Finally, make sure you're rolling with some current-level pawns to make your life easier.

 

[TheLostOne]

I'm really enjoying it. Playing as a mage with a main pawn fighter. The pawn system is actually pretty well done, and it's very easy to search for pawns. I kind of wish pawns you "borrowed" from other players would level up with you, but it's very simple to find a suitable replacement.

Ticktock, I owned the lizards in the well by Lightning blasting them from the ledge while my pawns kept them busy.

Story is pretty much non-existent, controls are kind of clunky, visuals are dated, and I'm having more fun with this game than I have had in a while. Combat is fun, good amount of equipment and skill customization, plenty to do and explore. Feels a little like Demon's souls, but less punishing and with more RPG elements.

 

[Ebonsword]

I had a tough time with the cave under the starting village too. I found it helped to have two mages in my group so we could keep hitting them with either fire-, ice-, or lightning-enchanted weapons. Ice and lightning work really well since the creatures hang out in the water. Fire works pretty well because it causes them to start rolling on their backs in the water, exposing their soft underbelly. Also, be careful about jumping in the water, which will cause your lantern to go out (side note: the way the game handles light and darkness is fucking awesome. You know how we always whine about games like Skyrim not having dark enough dungeons? Dragon's Dogma totally understands how to make a dark cave scary). Finally, make sure you're rolling with some current-level pawns to make your life easier.

What level were you when you did the quest in the well? I was level 7 and got totally pwned.

(Of course, the fact that I haven't purchased any abilities beyond the starting ones might have something to do with that...)

 

[The Ticktockman]

I somewhere between lvl 7 and 9. You definitely need to get some new abilities for yourself and your pawn (this is equally important).

In fact, I like that a lot about this game. Your pawn is basically a second main character that you get to guide through character progression, but don't actually play as. It's nice to be able to be a strider while still having the fun of choosing the spells for Ravel to use.

 

[felipepepe]

Kotaku Review is out, and the game sucks beacuse is not Skyrim or Dragon Age....they really hated this game from the moment it was announced and just won't budge...

TheLostOne I was coincidentally hearing Pulse while reading your post

 

[praetor]

what's funny about most of these reviews is that they bash the game for having the same flaws as most (all?) other (a)"rpgs" that get universally praised, except here they're major "cons" while elsewhere they're just minor quibbles:

"dated graphics"? skyrim looks way worse, dragon derpage has shittier art direction. but that's bethesdaware so for some reason they don't look dated
"crappy storyline"? yeah.. the one in skyrim and derpage are so exciting. so so exciting. friday
"irritating sidekicks"? i'm guessing the reviewers are disappointed you cannot romance them like in derpage etc.. and we all know how important that is for a proper rpg experience
"boring sidequests"? fetch quests like every other

 

[The Ticktockman]

Neatest feature so far: As you go questing during the day, when you or your pawns get hurt you not only lose HP but your max HP goes down a bit. So even when you heal back up after a battle, you're still not at full HP. The only way to fully restore your HP (so far) is to rest at an inn. This causes you to weigh the pros and cons of every battle. For example, I'm trying to escort this dude across the map and I keep dying because I'm fighting too many tough battles along the way, causing my max HP to be too low to handle encounters further down the road. I'll have to pick my battles and try to go around tough groups of bandits if I want to reach the end of the quest alive.

 

[Peter]

I haven't really been following the game, but yeah, the coverage about it on many sites, particularly Kotaku, is just disguisting and, frankly, bizarre. It's like a lot of these 'journalists' already decided to hate the game and shit on it no matter what a couple of months ago, while at the same time giving hyped up "AAA" games perfect scores despite all of their flaws. Do they have to fill out a certain bad score quota per year so they would still look 'legitimate'? Are they butthurt that Capcom didn't throw enough money their way?

I can get giving a bad game a good score because of the hype or publishers buying reviews, but what is the thought process behind shitting on a quality game?

 

[CrimsonAngel]

I heard that it is somewhat like monster hunter only with less clunky combat...

 

[Crooked Bee]

That actually sounds awesome.

Also, fuck professional game journalists.

And why is it back in general gaming again?....

Crooked Bee (I think) merged the other thread with this one.

I'm not a mod so I don't move threads.

True story.

 

[Mortmal]

I cant wait to get it now, poor old europe always getting games days or weeks later. Dark souls with more rpg elements, heaven , heaven! I am pretty sure the bad score is cause of diablo 3 , reviewers must have received massive amount of money if they give 90% guaranteed and lower the competition score.On the site i quoted earlier, the reviewer gives it 14/20 , the users 18/20 , theres something fishy there.Only honest gaming magazine in france is canard pc, but they have not reviewed it yet.

 

[Humanity has risen!]

Is there exclusive content on the Xbox 360 version? I think I recall reading that.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I can get giving a bad game a good score because of the hype or publishers buying reviews, but what is the thought process behind shitting on a quality game?

Who says publishers can't buy bad reviews (for games that aren't theirs). Could easily see Blizzard or Bethesda or any major company really doing that. Especially if they're name dropping other games in the review. A good review doesn't mean much these days, but being mentioned as the better version of something in a bad review is probably worth a lot.

 

[CrimsonAngel]

Is there exclusive content on the Xbox 360 version? I think I recall reading that.

There is a demo for RE6 and that's about it.

 

[Tehdagah]

The hitbox is shit just like Monster Hunter

 

[The Ticktockman]

Criticism means nothing without details. HOW is the hitbox shit?

 

[20 Eyes]

I wasn't sure about this one, but after reading a lot of very positive feedback (from actual people playing the game, not reviewers) I decided to pick it up. I played for a few hours, in which time I managed to reach the capital and got to level 11. Some early impressions:

• Imagine someone put Dark Souls, Shadow of the Colossus, Devil May Cry, Monster Hunter, and The Elder Scrolls into a blender. That is this game (so far).
• Storyfags need not apply, go play Planescape: Torment for the 28th time.
• Combat is a lot of fun. I'm playing as a Fighter, things started off alright but are looking up now that I'm unlocking more skills and figuring things out.
• Combat is pretty lethal for both sides. It's not as lethal as Dark Souls, but it's not like you and the enemy trade 50 hits each like in Oblivion.
• Camera can be difficult at times.
• It's more of a beat-em-up than something like Dark Souls, the lack of a lock-on took some getting used to (for me, at least)
• Climbing on giant bosses seems a little awkward, but I think I just haven't figured it out yet. I'm also not playing the climbing-oriented class (strider).
• You and your party members can grapple with pesky enemies, setting up a very satisfying coup de grace while the enemy is being held.
• Graphics aren't great. Maybe a little worse than Dark Souls.
• But the world seems pretty huge. The maps are way bigger and way more open.
• Building up your character and your main pawn is pretty interesting so far. There is a lot of gear, which can be upgraded if you have the cash + materials
• The class system is ok, what class you are when you level determines your stat gains for that level
• You can learn 'perks', I forget what this game calls them, from the 9 classes (vocations in this game) and use them in any other vocation
• Skills, perks, vocation - everything can be swapped out at an inn if you don't like it or want to change your tactics
• Except your stat points, which kinda sucks
• Pawn system is really cool, basically everyone makes a pawn. Your party is you and your pawn, plus two other people's pawns (assuming they're online). Those people still get to play with their pawn, the pawn you get is how it appeared the last time that player rested.
• I have no idea how that makes sense, but whatever
• The game supplies offline pawns if you need them
• many of the pawns I've seen so far are blatant waifus, it's awkward to play with a character that some neckbeard/adolescent probably fapped to
• my pawn is a true BRO, if you see an older looking mage named Michael you should pick him and bestow a generous gift upon him when he departs your service.
• So far this seems like an action-RPG done right.
• Two annoyances - "We have DLC!" notice when you start the game and there is a bit of screen tearing

tl;dr - If you like Dark Souls, you'll probably like this.

inb4 consolefag, BSB, decline, ect

Criticism means nothing without details. HOW is the hitbox shit?

Hitbox seems alright to me, but maybe it's different for ranged classes

 

[SuicideBunny]

any comments on the competence/knowledge/whatever system for pawns?

 

[potatojohn]

I like the subdued graphics. Reminds me of M&B.

Fuck Dark Souls, this needs to come to PC