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Dragon's Dogma : Dark Arisen.


wholehole
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I have very mixed feelings about this. I love the feeling of adventure, of not knowing what's down the road and if you'll be able survive. It's brilliant when you do overcome the odds and press on after a tough battle. The combat system is great with loads of customisation on offer, you're even encouraged to change class altogether. The Pawn system works really well, being able to hire and fire helpers and changing the composition of your group entirely as the situation demands.

Despite all the good bits, the game so far has felt as though i'm playing the middle portion of an RPG where i'm clearing up fluff quests just to pad out the leveling process. There's been no gravitas or urgency to the quests so it's difficult to differentiate between the story and side quests.

Things like not having fast travel I can understand why they left out even though it's annoying to have to walk to the same places over and over. I'm surprised more games don't use the MMO style flight paths to get around. You still get to where you're going quicker but you have to travel to a specific place, rather than just magically teleporting everywhere. It's a happy medium between the two.

There's other things which are pretty minor and affect my enjoyment more than they probably should. For instance, why did they overlook mini-map markers for people who have something to say? It's incredibly frustrating having to run around looking for colored speech bubbles above NPCs heads. Likewise with the Pawns. As good as the system is it grates when in combat and you're unable to issue commands for something as simple as a weapon buff - the option just doesn't exist. Most of the time you just have to wait for them to apply the correct buff which is very frustrating against the larger enemies.

For all it's issues, there are times when this incredible game shines through, and that's what makes it worth playing. I just wish it was more consistent.

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You sure your Pawn's inclination is set for buffing the party?.

Got to admit that the lack of fast travel is probably my biggest bugbear with the game, although last night it did throw up an interesting nighttime encounter with two Ogres resulting in an epic twenty minute battle.... with me victourious. :D

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As sure as I can be seeing as the game doesn't indicate how they are currently acting. I've sat in the Knowledge Chair - which always makes me chuckle - and told my Pawn how to act a few times, selecting different answers each time, but it doesn't seem to make a difference. I've also tried setting buffs as primary to see if that made a difference but again, no dice.

She'll cast fire boon as soon as the fight starts in most cases, but once it's worn off I'm waiting ages for her to cast it again. Something as simple as killing a few Goblin stragglers becomes a bit of a chore without fire buffed weapons.

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Theres a guy standing next to the Rift stone at the Encampment who sells potions (for Rift Crystals instead of gold).... you can use these to set the primary/secondary inclinations, drink two for primary, one for secondary. You can check the pawns inclination on the status screen.

If you want to get your weapon buffed while out of battle ( :lol: ) try tapping left or right on the d-pad, usually works for me.

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Cheers Nag, I'll give that a go later on.

This is a great example of some of the difficulties trying to enjoy this game. I don't mind the lack of hand-holding whilst playing, but a game's systems need to be explained clearly. Dark Souls had the same problem with some of it's elements, they were overly complicated just because they weren't explained properly, or at all in some cases.

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It was the lack of direction that killed Dark Souls for me, nothing more frustrating than not having any idea which route to go and repeatedly getting your arse kicked on the way.

I'm struggling to decide what i want my Pawn to specialise in again <_< .... i need to get her to a lvl 9 Sorcerer for a augmentation that speeds up spell casting, i dont know whether to return her to being a Mage for healing and buffs or keep her as a Sorcerer and a straight up damage dealer. :huh:

Found a healing spring last night where you can fill up empty flasks which heals the entire party, if that works out well i may do away with a Healer completely.

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Sounds very useful.

Go with the Sorceror as their spells are mental at higher levels!

I tend not to rely on healing very much. The problem is that once it's cast it stays in that spot and you have to remain within the light to receive the benefit, plus it doesn't refill lost health either. There is an ability that allows the healing to continue without staying near the circle, but I don't have it yet.

I've ended up stockpiling curatives and using those on myself during battle. I usually just let the Pawns die and then go and res them when I'm able. There doesn't seem to be any negative affects to doing it that way, aside from them ressing with half health.

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Sounds very useful.

Go with the Sorceror as their spells are mental at higher levels!

I tend not to rely on healing very much. The problem is that once it's cast it stays in that spot and you have to remain within the light to receive the benefit, plus it doesn't refill lost health either. There is an ability that allows the healing to continue without staying near the circle, but I don't have it yet.

I've ended up stockpiling curatives and using those on myself during battle. I usually just let the Pawns die and then go and res them when I'm able. There doesn't seem to be any negative affects to doing it that way, aside from them ressing with half health.

I'm starting to lean more the way of badass Sorcerer now, its fucking epic seeing a Cyclops being smothered in flame (especially at night)... think i might start rolling a Sword/bow wielding Assassin (me), Sorcerer, Fighter, Strider team for awhile.

I'll be testing that Spring water out tonight too.

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Still pouring time into this game and i'm still loving it... i'm "post" story now and the creatures on the map have had a serious upgrade in difficulty (fucking hate thos Hell Hounds). Theres also a few new creatures turned up, just had an epic encounter with a Hydra. :awe:

My Mage Pawn seems to be pretty popular now too, she seems to be raking in the Rift Crystals overnight.

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So is this game any good then?

Yes, it is.

Been trying to kill the offline version of the Ur Dragon this afternoon.... got him down to his last health bar but the camara really is'nt helping me at the minute.... trying to climb on the fucking idiots back while he's jerking around all over the place and the camara is pressed up against the dragons chest is not a nice experience... also not helped that the game seems to have slowed to a crawl and theres around a seconds delay between pressing a bottun and the action taking place.

I'll get the cunt though.

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I usually just let the Pawns die and then go and res them when I'm able. There doesn't seem to be any negative affects to doing it that way, aside from them ressing with half health.

i read online that their max hp is permanently lowered every time they get incapacitated, until you next rest at an inn. seems to be true, i havent checked stats but in some big barneys they start going down more and more frequently until its not even worth going to res them

i love this game, probably put 90 hours into it. it is quite janky and old-fashioned, but its just got REALLY great combat and im a sucker for loot. just farming xp and gold now against really powerful monsters, its then that you realise pawns are useless sometimes :D

sure theyll heal you, but if youre stuck in a hydras throat for 5 minutes and they just let it swallow you.. i can hack a hydras head off with a blunt weapon in 20 seconds guys, pull your socks up. at least target the damn thing!!!

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i didnt want to but i ended up switching to strider and levelling it up a bit to get the special shot abilities and beat the dragon. bit silly that the warrior is useless in that situation. then i finished the game! really enjoyed it, gonna be fun playing through on ng+, if not just to absolutely fuck all those enemies that gave me jip the first time round!!

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I was playing as an Assassin so ended up spamming Explosive Arrows when it got to that point, managed to get the bastard in the end though.... never fighting the twat again either, the performance of the game for that bit is shocking.

I'm in NG+ at the minute, its nice to be at the stage where i can wear whatever i like because half the enemies can't touch you. I'd like to try and 1000g this but i don't think i can be arsed to grind out the 350 pieces of equipment.... we'll see.

TopGun, Raptr has you down at 109 hours.... :awe:

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Chugging through the quests now. Some of the quests have progressed the story although they don't really dwell on it too much aside from a short janky cutscene here and there. Just about to have an audience with the Duke himself.

Nag, your pawn Lulu has been invaluable during my adventure. She keeps me healed and buffed mostly whilst the others kick some ass but when she throws a spell out you know about it. Despite being way higher level than me and my main pawn I've purposefully kept the other recruited pawn at the same level as myself to even it out a bit. Doesn't feel completely easymode, but it definitely gives me an edge and made it much more enjoyable to explore knowing I have some backup it shit gets rough.

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I'm glad she's working how she's supposed to, she has a habit of changing inclinations if i dont keep an eye on it (i always do my best to get her set up right before calling it a night).... she's getting pretty badass now, apart from the Ur Dragon she has'nt died in ages throughout the game.

Still can't decide on the best offensive spells for her though, i keep chopping and changing.

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  • 3 weeks later...

http://www.metro.co.uk/tech/games/903133-dragons-dogma-sequel-confirmed

Although it kept a fairly low profile all the way up to its release Dragon's Dogma has already shipped more than 1 million copies worldwide. The game got into the top 10 in both the US and most of Europe, and was one of the most successful new franchise launches ever in recent Japanese history.

A peculiar, but mostly successful, mix of Japanese and Western influences the game draws on Capcom's experience with the Monster Hunter series but applied it to a single-player only action role-player inspired by Western games such as Skyrim.

'The game has become very successful by combining spectacular action with the characteristics of a social game, in which players can borrow and loan pawns with friends through online interaction,' claims Capcom's own press release.

'Dragon's Dogma has become Capcom's 55th title to top the one million level, demonstrating once again that Capcom ranks among the world's leading game producers in terms of technical and development skills,' it adds.

'Dragon's Dogma is part of Capcom's basic strategy of establishing game franchises through the creation of new brands. This game was developed with the goal of creating another pillar of earnings for Capcom alongside Monster Hunter and Sengoku Basara.' (This was a press release aimed at Japanese investors, if the example franchises seem odd.)

Capcom plans to add more titles to the line-ups of its core game franchises while introducing original titles as well. By focusing on these measures to enlarge the line-up of content under development, Capcom aims to maximise earnings.'

Previously Capcom has indicated that sequels to its existing games will be created by external Western teams and original games will be created in-house in Japan. However, the likes of this autumn's Resident Evil 6 shows they're already playing fairly loose with that idea.

Is that a yay? I'd actually them rather make Monster Hunter for 360 similar to the one they did on Wii except with polished up graphics and better more integrated online play.

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Its good news but most of those sales were from Japanese PS3 owners.... so lets hope that the sequel does'nt become a region/console exclusive (just like MH).

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