Capcom Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

[Moink]

They would actually have to play the game to do that.

 

[Zombra]

So I found my first teleport beacon thing and planted it at the fortress where I found it since I've been running back and forth from there a lot. Am I dumb? I have no idea how big the world is or how many of these things I'll eventually find.

 

[Saark]

Just carry one on your person at all times, drop the others wherever you want them. As long as you have one with you you can just plant it, port to town, port back to it and loot it again. Only place I would suggest planting one is the first time you get to Bluemoon Tower.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

So I found my first teleport beacon thing and planted it at the fortress where I found it since I've been running back and forth from there a lot. Am I dumb? I have no idea how big the world is or how many of these things I'll eventually find.

They increased the number of portcrystals from 1 in the base game to 5 with Dark Arisen, though none of them are found in BBI. If you want to spoil the locations:

Spoiler

1. The bottom of the Everfall (missable)
2. Inside Hillfigure Knoll
3. Inside the Shadow Fortress, in the small area where you find the lever (missable)
4. The back area of the Witchwood (missable)
5. The top of Bluemoon Tower

You can accumulate more portcrystals in NG+ up to a total of 10.

 

[Zombra]

5 to play with? Cool. I found a map of the whole game world and it looks like putting one at the Shadow Fort wasn't a huge waste. Thanks team.

 

[mahdi]

I'm pretty sure you can pick them up and relocate them if you change your mind.

 

[Zombra]

I'm pretty sure you can pick them up and relocate them if you change your mind.

Awesome, I wouldn't have guessed that. Thanks!

 

[Haba]

So I was casually strolling on the street and...

 

[Suicidal]

Holy shit this guy would make a fine addition to my party.

Also someone hired Ralph Pootawn and he brought back an assload of rift crystals for me, is there anything I can use them for apart from hiring higher level pawns?

 

[Zombra]

Also someone hired Ralph Pootawn and he brought back an assload of rift crystals for me, is there anything I can use them for apart from hiring higher level pawns?

I know Anthony Davis wanted lots of RCs for some reason. I think you can spend them on Bitterblack Isle gear?

 

[Puukko]

Hm. I gave my mage pawn Conqueror's mantle and he immediately got hired by 6 people in like one day. Could be people just wanted Gabe Newell in their party, though.

 

[Mangoose]

I remember hating Cockatrix when I played the game back in the day

 

[mediocrepoet]

I was spending RCs on those potions to change your pawn's aptitudes. Dunno if you can get them elsewhere but the guy in front of the encampment rift portal sells them.

 

[Anthony Davis]

Also someone hired Ralph Pootawn and he brought back an assload of rift crystals for me, is there anything I can use them for apart from hiring higher level pawns?

I know Anthony Davis wanted lots of RCs for some reason. I think you can spend them on Bitterblack Isle gear?

You use them to purify Cursed Items in BBI - but I have almost a million now, so I'm good for awhile.

Reylene, my pawn, she brings death and destruction.

 

[Mozg]

I still don't know the magic that well - what are the "top" damage spells that don't cause too much visual spam? I stopped taking sorcerer pawns because I hated having big ice crystals and shit blocking my view of attacks that will 1HKO me.

 

[Anthony Davis]

I still don't know the magic that well - what are the "top" damage spells that don't cause too much visual spam? I stopped taking sorcerer pawns because I hated having big ice crystals and shit blocking my view of attacks that will 1HKO me.

The worst offender is maelstrom, but it absolutely wrecks creatures big and small. I remove it periodically from Reylene, then usually add it back.


Fulminations is a must have for BBI.

I currently run:
Ingle, for quick small hits
Fire affinity
Bolide
Seism
Fulmination
Maelstrom

 

[Damned Registrations]

Comestion and Fugilation I suppose? Pawns are awful at using the later though. Exequy is amazing too but again they waste it a lot on immune targets. Bolide is powerful too, but only vs physically weak enemies, which limits it quite a bit. If you're worried about the visual spam you're too close; sorceror pawns don't make great backup for a melee character for that reason, unless you're willing to be totally on the defensive and just lure enemies around until they die from a bajillion ice spikes or meteors or whatever.

When playing as a sorc I run like this:

Exequy -Kills any humanoids or small critters like leapworms in a flash, also good for scouting or reaching enemies in awkward places like right underneath your perch. Useless vs undead though.
Fulmination - Wrecks a lot of BBI enemies, in particular the Garms and Elder Ogres, at least once you have enough stagger to stunlock them. Niche spell, but very powerful and fully magical, so it works on high physical resistance foes like the ogres.
Comestion - For the zombie dragons, also another pure magic spell but with a different element and better range.
Maelstrom - Wrecks anything not immune to dark element. Also has a vacuum effect, one full cast will generally clear an entire room easily of anything without a full 10 bars of health. Also juggles them hilariously. Yet another pure magic spell.
Gicel - Useful vs Gorecyclops before you're strong enough to overcome their magic resistance, but you need to target their eye, which is tricky. Also good for knocking dragons out of the air, wrecking the minotaur guys (they freeze) and generally doing a ton of damage once you get the best version of it, which fires 5 god damned spikes.
Seism - Useful against a few niche foes but very difficult to land properly.

Some of these are also great vs some of the later enemies in BBI that haven't been mentioned in here yet (and Death) but I didn't want to spoil what works on them.

 

[Moink]

I want to change class to something that isn't ranger but ranger is too good to leave.

 

[Heresiarch]

Holy shit the Mystic Knight in this game is fun. It is so unique and innovative compared to all the paladins/spellswords/battlemages/warrior-mage hybrids in other games which are basically just mages in plates. Blasting enemies away in a dramatic angle AND then blast them with fireballs after a Perfect Block is RIDICULOUSLY satisfying. Great Cannon is a very strange spell though, I have never seen such a kind of spell in any western or Japanese RPG. The only complaint I have about this vocation is that the weapon enchantment spells take a loooong time to cast and last less than a minute. However I have not tried the Dark Anguish spell yet and I have heard it's really good.

A couple questions:
1. I am at level 41 and is doing the (minor spoiler) trial about some noble quest. I don't have any idea about what lurks in Everfall or BBI or even what these places look like. I have no idea what this so-called post-game looks like. Do I still have lots of content to enjoy?

2. Should I limit the spells my main pawn sorcerer have on her slot? How can I make her stay in one place and finish that damn meteor spell instead of: 1. jumping away while casting halfway because someone gets close to her; 2. stop casting while casting halfway because the targets close by are dead; 3. move around because for some reason she wants to cast them at another position...

 

[Saark]

1. I did BBI on normal at around lvl 30 just to check it out, the first couple of areas are certainly doable. Started BBI right after the mainquest on hard where I was around lvl 50ish, am now close to the end and level 93. There's no real difficulty spikes unless you want to kill every monster you come across. Everfall is easily doable after you finish the mainquest, it was designed for that purpose. You still have quite a few quests in front of you after the trial/griffin hunt.
2. Check out his inclinations, I had similar issues with a couple of support pawns and each one of them had Scather. It makes your pawns stand somewhat close to their opponents, which can be an issue for sorcerers/rangers. As far as cancelling spells because they are dead goes, make sure to have a bunch of short cast-time spells on hand and realize what your sorcerer prioritizes casting on and leave them for him unless they really piss you off. 2.3 is just the same as 2.1 really, ever since I switched my sorcerer to utilitarian/challenger/mitigator I have no issues with him moving around too much or cancelling spells.

 

[Utgard-Loki]

death can suck my dick. i had a good time fighting 4 eliminators + spectres + random undead until mister instakill damage sponge came to the party. if it would stay dead i wouldn't mind, but no, of course he respawns.

edit: i also wonder why they included fighter and warrior if they hate both classes so much?

the dude that placed the metal golem disks and ur dragon hearts needs to be shot in the head.

 

[RoBoBOBR]

Started the game on normal with pawns, picked ranger class. Was fun for a bit, but then turn quite boring. So i switched to hard, threw my pawns into the sea, and stopped using DLC items. Also changed vocation to mystic knights, and i gotta say of all vocations i like that one the most. Shield skills are quite awesome - i like Demonswrath especially. Also mystic knight boast quite a high versatility, if only changing from sword to staff was easier.

I've read of BBI and cursed weapons, and now really want to go there before finishing the game proper. But at the same time i fear those OP items will trivialize game even on hard. Decisions, decisions.

Spoiler

On an unrelated note Dragon's Dogma universe is very inclooosive - my female character was suspected to be Duchess' lover immidiately, which suggests that lesbianism is mainstream in their world.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Got sick of trying the archer/melee shit and decided to start over as a pure sorceror all the way to level 200 as a personal challenge. Also going to avoid using pawns and am only levelling in BBI (besides the first 10 levels I got on the way to gran soren... I needed SOME sort of weapon after all.)

Going pretty good so far, wish a staff would drop though, the basic one is woefully inadequate. Hit vocation level 5 though, so I finally have access to the decent shit like exequy and comestion, instead of trying to kill shit with ingle and miasma. Also, not having any other class augments at all is more painful than I expected, sorceror hp/stam is terrible, even the +200 from strider would have been nice, and the carry limit is terrible as well, especially since I made a midget this time around for extra hardship. Still, I know all the best tricks, so I'm making progress, level 25 now. Also, mimics suck balls when you're running solo, waste so many consumables. Good xp though.

 

[Heresiarch]

I also thinks that the DLC items really mess up the "proper experience" the game is supposed to give. I am level 40 and that starting DLC tiara is still one of the best headware for mages.

I have sold the monocle and wtf I got 300,000 credits out of it. Now I am forced to play the game and keep the money above 300,000 in order to pretend that I never sold that shit in the first place.

 

[Damned Registrations]

I also thinks that the DLC items really mess up the "proper experience" the game is supposed to give. I am level 40 and that starting DLC tiara is still one of the best headware for mages.

I have sold the monocle and wtf I got 300,000 credits out of it. Now I am forced to play the game and keep the money above 300,000 in order to pretend that I never sold that shit in the first place.

Buy a Maker's Finger and fire it at something you don't like for shits and giggles (preferably not in the vicinity of any important NPCs.)