Capcom Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

[Mozg]

I tried fighting my first drake at lvl 20 on hard mode.

Yeah no.

I don't really know how to go about it even after trying with multiple pawn setups ~ level 40. I looked it up on youtube and the only vids of it I found were people that carried a bucket of potions in and paused to heal to full from inventory every time the drake touched them.

The "final boss" (I haven't touched the expansion stuff) was much easier although I kinda cheesed that myself.

 

[Puukko]

Grigori's supposed to be more ~epic~ and shit rather than legitimately hard.

Spoiler

Even without the expansion stuff, he's not really the final boss. There's the Seneschal, and also the Ur-Dragon. The real REAL final boss would be Daimon 2.0, after him there's nothing.

 

[Ivan]

i tried Hard mode for a long time. wasn't sure if I was having "fun." yeah, no. fighting anything but the monsters if fine, but getting 1 shotted by hyperarmor arms flailing giants, no.

normal mode it is.

 

[Mozg]

Just to calibrate myself, am I supposed to pause-heal? I'm not a great action player even though I enjoy it - is it reasonable at all to try to skill-up on bosses or sift through pawns until I can somehow avoid everything and only rarely heal off pawn anodyne (say, taking 3-4 hits in a fight), avoiding straight grinding to high level/high powered weapons, or is that kind of shit for extreme high skill people?

 

[Ebonsword]

For reference, people are saying that you'd need at least 80-100 for BbI, which I assume is as "end game" as it gets.

80th level for BBI? That sounds way too high. I think I was more like 50 when I started to explore there?

 

[Strayed]

Just to calibrate myself, am I supposed to pause-heal? I'm not a great action player even though I enjoy it - is it reasonable at all to try to skill-up on bosses or sift through pawns until I can somehow avoid everything and only rarely heal off pawn anodyne (say, taking 3-4 hits in a fight), avoiding straight grinding to high level/high powered weapons, or is that kind of shit for extreme high skill people?

Use fighter's perfect block and other classes' evasive skills or any moves that have I-frames. You only need to spam potions if you suck at dodging. Taking only 3-4 hits even against high level opponents is entirely possible.

Spoiler

There is an augment that extends the frames for perfect blocks as well, if you need a little help. Dodge roll is OP, and exodus slash for warrior makes you invincible for the entire animation. Mages are the only classes that get nothing.

 

[Mozg]

If someone is conversant in both DD and Dark Souls: Is that level of skill like a dude beating, say, Fume Knight with a solid Dark Souls character (about my level of action game skill) or is that like a dude beating Fume Knight with an SL1 on NG+++?

 

[Strayed]

If someone is conversant in both DD and Dark Souls: Is that level of skill like a dude beating, say, Fume Knight with a solid Dark Souls character (about my level of action game skill) or is that like a dude beating Fume Knight with an SL1 on NG+++?

That's just a lot of perfect blocking, and the augment I mentioned before. If you have good timing, I'd say you could easily do that, even without being high level like the guy in the video.

 

[Puukko]

For reference, people are saying that you'd need at least 80-100 for BbI, which I assume is as "end game" as it gets.

80th level for BBI? That sounds way too high. I think I was more like 50 when I started to explore there?

50 sounds about right, yeah. 80+ for the second round.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

Ugh, my caster pawns are constantly knocked out in the tougher fights. Like in the fight with the drake, the most value (after dealing with the wings) I got from the random warrior I rented, as she was still up and hitting the weak spot with me while the mages were taking a dirt nap.

Those mages/sorcerers don't happen to be using the bugged mage augment Inflection, by any chance? This augment worked properly (half damage while casting) in the original Dragon's Dogma but has the opposite effect in the Dark Arisen version, and I don't know whether it's been fixed in the PC version.

Should I stop derping around and complete some main quest missions now? I'm now at 32, got the grimoire (haven't turned it in) and have done 1/4 of the quests the knight gives.

The short answer is that as long as you're having fun you shouldn't worry about it. The long answer is that for most players the game will become boring if they spend their time derping around independently of the main quest and side quests (not the noticeboard quests but the real sidequests), as they'll spend too much time fighting small-enemy mobs or exploring dungeons that they'll be sent to later by a quest, and will tend to be overpowered for the actual quests. Note also that as you progress through the game's 7 stages (determined by progress in the main quest), shops offer better weapons and armor.

Just had the fight with the hydra. I reached the point when the military commander lady threw me an explosive barrel and my character threw it inside the hydra's mouth. After that I assumed I needed to attack the head that was swallowing the barrel to detonate it but as I jumped on the hydra's neck it just died by itself. What happened? Was that a glitch or something?

If the player fails to cut off a head from the hydra within a certain generous time limit, Mercedes will defeat the hydra for you via explosive barrel. Essentially, it's an out for scrubs and mages.

 

[Suicidal]

Just had the fight with the hydra. I reached the point when the military commander lady threw me an explosive barrel and my character threw it inside the hydra's mouth. After that I assumed I needed to attack the head that was swallowing the barrel to detonate it but as I jumped on the hydra's neck it just died by itself. What happened? Was that a glitch or something?

If the player fails to cut off a head from the hydra within a certain generous time limit, Mercedes will defeat the hydra for you via explosive barrel. Essentially, it's an out for scrubs and mages.

Oh so the barrel was basically a "fuck it, you win" thing? I thought that when they showed the hydra swallowing the barrel and it being clearly visible in its throat that I had to strike that place in order to make it explode or something.

 

[Anthony Davis]

Just had the fight with the hydra. I reached the point when the military commander lady threw me an explosive barrel and my character threw it inside the hydra's mouth. After that I assumed I needed to attack the head that was swallowing the barrel to detonate it but as I jumped on the hydra's neck it just died by itself. What happened? Was that a glitch or something?

If the player fails to cut off a head from the hydra within a certain generous time limit, Mercedes will defeat the hydra for you via explosive barrel. Essentially, it's an out for scrubs and mages.

Oh so the barrel was basically a "fuck it, you win" thing? I thought that when they showed the hydra swallowing the barrel and it being clearly visible in its throat that I had to strike that place in order to make it explode or something.

That Hydra ain't dead Bro. If you look closely, you can see it slithering away in the background during the cutscene.

It comes back later in an optional side quest.

 

[Damned Registrations]

On the subject of spamming healing consumables: it entirely depends on how strong you are for the area you're in. If you play through methodically clearing all the quests, you should honestly be able to do it without any consumables at all. OTOH, if you're plowing ahead to keep the challenge high, consumable spamming is basically a must; not just for you but for the pawns as well. It's simply not viable to fight enemies that do things like blind or put you to sleep without the right healing items when those enemies are also strong enough to murder you in pretty much one shot. Hell, there are items in the game that revive you when you die, and you can easily expect to burn through a lot of them in the more difficult parts.

 

[Suicidal]

Just had the fight with the hydra. I reached the point when the military commander lady threw me an explosive barrel and my character threw it inside the hydra's mouth. After that I assumed I needed to attack the head that was swallowing the barrel to detonate it but as I jumped on the hydra's neck it just died by itself. What happened? Was that a glitch or something?

If the player fails to cut off a head from the hydra within a certain generous time limit, Mercedes will defeat the hydra for you via explosive barrel. Essentially, it's an out for scrubs and mages.

Oh so the barrel was basically a "fuck it, you win" thing? I thought that when they showed the hydra swallowing the barrel and it being clearly visible in its throat that I had to strike that place in order to make it explode or something.

That Hydra ain't dead Bro. If you look closely, you can see it slithering away in the background during the cutscene.

It comes back later in an optional side quest.

I didn't notice that but I never assumed it was dead. I don't think they die just from losing 1 head :D

 

[Damned Registrations]

It's hilarious to me how many of the complaints would be solved by anyone bothering to read the manual or check the options menu. People who don't look at game options should be exiled from the PC master race.

 

[Zombra]

I'm going to make a full party of disgusting fatasses so if any of you have a disgusting fatass pawn tell me how to find it.

Not fat, but my pawn Zombira is a shriveled hell gnome, maybe she can fill in while you're looking for your dream team. Search for her name.

If you play through methodically clearing all the quests, you should honestly be able to do it without any consumables at all.

This is great news, thank you. I don't like potion chugging but I do like clearing quests. Win/win.

 

[Inspectah]

damn this game is way too addictive, I don't have enough time to play both it and dominions, someone help

 

[Multidirectional]

That hydra "fight" was over for me in less than a minute, first thing I thought to do was climb up its neck and chop the head off.

 

[Haba]

I just waited for it to try to eat one of my pawns, then went and cut that head off. That's what pawns are for, right?

 

[sser]

Are the Warrior charge-up skills almost impossible to aim with a keyboard or am I just fucking up somehow? Also, a Warrior pawn is actually surprisingly useful with the right skills. Mine tears shit right up in every fighting scenario thus far.

 

[hivemind]

get gud faggot

 

[Haba]

The hipster-warrior sigils are hilarious. Skellies spawning? Pop one in the middle of them. Watch bones bounce and XP increase. You can even play double-safe by first popping Perilous and then following up with Stone Grove.

Unfortunately Magik Shield shit sux. This class would be so much fun if switching between sword and staff wasn't such a major pain in the ass.

 

[Tacgnol]

Not fat, but my pawn Zombira is a shriveled hell gnome, maybe she can fill in while you're looking for your dream team. Search for her name.

I can attest. I used Zombira last night to help fight some ogres.

 

[Moink]

On to NG+, decided to do BBI for the first time, walked into the first room and death spawned and I ran away.

Not sure if I should stick with Ranger or something else, 10 fold shot + blasting arrows carried me through nearly everything in the 2nd half of the game.

 

[Suicidal]

I'm going to make a full party of disgusting fatasses so if any of you have a disgusting fatass pawn tell me how to find it.

Not fat, but my pawn Zombira is a shriveled hell gnome, maybe she can fill in while you're looking for your dream team. Search for her name.

I didn't find any option to search by name specifically, only within level ranges. What level is your pawn?