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Dragon's Crown |OT| Knock down the crown

My biggest issue with OS was the Slowdown, made the battle with the Queen of the Underworld nearly unbeatable with some characters. That being said, the art, voice acting and story were, imo, absolutely amazing....makes me sad we won't see Grand Knights History.

For one us Europeans got the better deal, as the Euro version is virtually lag-free, even during the queen fight. I've heard the PSN version also removes the slowdown and therefore the US PSN version should be the best one available, as the Euro version did away with speech bubbles to accomodate for different languages (using plain subtitles instead).
 

maomaoIYP

Member
For one us Europeans got the better deal, as the Euro version is virtually lag-free, even during the queen fight. I've heard the PSN version also removes the slowdown and therefore the US PSN version should be the best one available, as the Euro version did away with speech bubbles to accomodate for different languages (using plain subtitles instead).

I have the US PSN version in addition to my old PS2 version. Boss fight slowdowns were minimal but still present when there was too much stuff on screen. But my main gripe with the game (besides the horrific repetition and terrible item management) now that I've played it in comparison to a lot of other recent games is that is suffers from button lag.
 
Good news AUS GAF - if you pre-order this from EB we get the art book too!

Also...it’s only $58 dollars on the PS3 and $43 on the Vita. GO! GO! GO! GO!!!

uXY4wrJ.jpg
 

Quixzlizx

Member
I just spent the last couple of hours completing every Normal difficulty quest. Except for that fucking owlbear quest. :lol

The art in this game is so incredible. I'm more excited about the art I get for completing a quest than I am about the gold/xp/skill points. And I can just look at the art online if I want to.
 

fionel

Member
I felt the same about the game once I soloed it with an Amazon on normal. It exceeded my expectations, and I was really surprised how a (probably) 2-3 hour game was expanded in such a clever and fun way, but deep down I wish it was like a traditional arcade game.

Dragon's Crown strikes me as a sandbox beat-em-up. All the mechanics of a traditional beat-em-up are there, but arranged so that stages can be approached in myriad ways. You can play each stage in a "bubble," starting fresh with normal amount of lives and item uses, then heading back to town each time to recharge-- each stage like a 10 minute game in itself. Or you can play them more traditionally by not heading back to town, so the better you do the more lives you get, the longer you survive, and the better the payoff-- a lot like an arcade game. The RPG elements are there so anyone can get through the game with enough time, or if you're good enough you don't have to worry about item or level grinding. Once multiple difficulties are introduced you can flip-flop between them to complete side-quests, learn skills and earn items that carry over.

But with all that freedom there is still one tiny slice of players left in the dust-- what about the players who don't want that freedom and want a tightly directed challenge to overcome? That is my one complaint: There is not much to come back to beyond trying out different characters once I've seen everything. When the game is arranged in such a safe way that allows players to balance the difficulty themselves with stats, items, and breaking up stages, playing through the game feels less meaningful to me. I still want to get a sense of the other characters, but starting again I'll feel like I'm just going through the motions for the sake of trying a new style of play. The unique characters do all the heavy lifting in this game rather than the actual stages-- that's what people play for and come back to. Players want to level their guys up, get new equipment, try new skills, beat this boss with this axe instead of that one, do the sidequests for mini-challenges and the payoff, etc. And that's why I maintain it feels like a sandbox beat-em-up. The stages are areas to have fun messing around in to try out the cool characters, and you can play in short or long sessions however you want.

I often take games at face value when I play them, but when Dragon's Crown has all the elements and assets of a traditional arcade beat-em-up already in the game it's hard for me to not wish there was an arcade mode. I'm holding out for that 0.0001% chance it'll be added as DLC.

couldnt have said it better myself. really wish there was an arcade mode. chaining dungeons is as close as you can get but its still ways off.
 
Sorceress questions:
1) Does Extract affect the tracking missiles she can fire (hold square), or just her melee attacks?

2) Does Skeleton HP correlate with your own HP at all? I'm curious as to whether it might be taking the HP buffing skill to help them out.

3) Does the Thunderhead skill try to track and attack enemies, or does it go about randomly firing?

4) Do higher levels of Gravity create more pull, or just increase the pull range?

5) Does Petrification really only work on enemies that are facing you?

6) How long does Curse last?

7) How long does Rock Press stun last? Does it affect bosses at all?

Thanks to those who answer. To those who are negligent...I shall ask this again and again until I know!
Or gain access to respeccing to test stuff myself
 

maomaoIYP

Member
Sorceress questions:
1) Does Extract affect the tracking missiles she can fire (hold square), or just her melee attacks?

2) Does Skeleton HP correlate with your own HP at all? I'm curious as to whether it might be taking the HP buffing skill to help them out.

3) Does the Thunderhead skill try to track and attack enemies, or does it go about randomly firing?

4) Do higher levels of Gravity create more pull, or just increase the pull range?

5) Does Petrification really only work on enemies that are facing you?

6) How long does Curse last?

7) How long does Rock Press stun last? Does it affect bosses at all?

Thanks to those who answer. To those who are negligent...I shall ask this again and again until I know!
Or gain access to respeccing to test stuff myself

1) Just the melee attacks.
2) Don't think so, even at higher skill levels they get torn apart pretty fast, so I'm guessing their stats are fixed.
3) I think it's random.
4) No idea, never used it.
5) Not that I've seen, but the stone time is too short for it to be useful imo.
6) About 10 - 15s.
7) Doesn't affect bosses. Most of the time it kills all minions caught inside. I'm assuming the stun time is the same as the regular dizzy stun since you see the stars flying on their head.
 
1) Just the melee attacks.
2) Don't think so, even at higher skill levels they get torn apart pretty fast, so I'm guessing their stats are fixed.
3) I think it's random.
4) No idea, never used it.
5) Not that I've seen, but the stone time is too short for it to be useful imo.
6) About 10 - 15s.
7) Doesn't affect bosses. Most of the time it kills all minions caught inside. I'm assuming the stun time is the same as the regular dizzy stun since you see the stars flying on their head.
Just regular melee attacks is unfortunate.

I know the skeleton stats aren't entirely fixed, since they scale with your level.

Petrification says it lasts for 15 seconds - doesn't that seem plenty long to you?
 

maomaoIYP

Member
Just regular melee attacks is unfortunate.

I know the skeleton stats aren't entirely fixed, since they scale with your level.

Petrification says it lasts for 15 seconds - doesn't that seem plenty long to you?

That's at max level. A hefty investment if you ask me. Curse's frog time remains the same even at lvl 1. Well just take either and leave the other. Curse weakens the enemies' stats as they turn into frogs, I'm not sure if petrification does this too.
 

Sanctuary

Member
Yeah, fuck it, no way I can manage it with a Dwarf. I'm level 95 and even with +20 dmg to draconic weapon and stacking -20 dmg from draconic with strong draughts I just can't manage to get high enough DPS. AI companions just get wasted by the damn skele crossbow jerks. Not fun.

Time to move on to another character I guess.

I'm trying to beat him solo as an 85 Wizard, but it's just not happening. I have like +48% damage to draconic, and a total of 74% damage reduction (draco/normal reduction) and my best was still getting him to 20% before he healed back up. It's the goddamn skeletons. Most annoying, lame ass shit I've ever seen. Even drinking a potion that makes you immune to knockback only helps slightly, but not enough. The blue skeletons occupy too much time. Wizard seems like some truly low damage too (better than the Sorc by a bit, but it's still next to last), considering Amazons and Elves can kill it in under a minute. Some have even done it in 10s.

I did read about an exploit though with the crossbow.
You toss it up on a ledge, and apparently the skeletons spend all of their time trying to figure out how to get up to it.
 

perorist

Unconfirmed Member
Just regular melee attacks is unfortunate.

I know the skeleton stats aren't entirely fixed, since they scale with your level.

Petrification says it lasts for 15 seconds - doesn't that seem plenty long to you?
Petrification is really more of a side skill you might want when playing multiplayer. Skeletons aren't too useful outside of solo play either, especially in the post-game dungeon where there are hardly any bone piles.

Sorceress' best skills are protection (the best), blizzard, rock press, and create food imo. You should also focus on just one mp regen skill (charge speed), since the others don't scale well at high levels. Also max adroit hands when you have the points since at max it'll reduce spell cooldown by 50%
 

Sgblues

Member
Oof was on a 9 boss streak, joined a game in Wallace's underground lab to fight the Cyclops and it was pretty much a slide show on my screen with the game synchronizing every two seconds, somehow managed to kill them but the game said the connection was lost with the other players and returns me to town, I kept my spoils but all the exp I got was gone and its exp I wanted more, oh well.
 

maomaoIYP

Member
Petrification is really more of a side skill you might want when playing multiplayer. Skeletons aren't too useful outside of solo play either, especially in the post-game dungeon where there are hardly any bone piles.

Sorceress' best skills are protection (the best), blizzard, rock press, and create food imo. You should also focus on just one mp regen skill (charge speed), since the others don't scale well at high levels. Also max adroit hands when you have the points since at max it'll reduce spell cooldown by 50%

Skeletons aren't useful period.
After I stopped relying on healing I respeced to remove create food and replaced it with curse. Makes taking out black goblins/skeletons etc infinitely easier.
 
How does the Protection buffing staff stack with Protection?
Does MP absorb work off of Skeleton kills?

That's at max level. A hefty investment if you ask me. Curse's frog time remains the same even at lvl 1. Well just take either and leave the other. Curse weakens the enemies' stats as they turn into frogs, I'm not sure if petrification does this too.
Yeah, but Cursed enemies are supposedly rather hard to hit compared to Petrified ones. And it's not full-screen. I'm not arguing, I'm just thinking out loud about the pros/cons.

Petrification is really more of a side skill you might want when playing multiplayer. Skeletons aren't too useful outside of solo play either, especially in the post-game dungeon where there are hardly any bone piles.

Sorceress' best skills are protection (the best), blizzard, rock press, and create food imo. You should also focus on just one mp regen skill (charge speed), since the others don't scale well at high levels. Also max adroit hands when you have the points since at max it'll reduce spell cooldown by 50%
What spammable spells does the Sorceress really need to use, though? I'm iffy on Adroit Hands. I don't usually need to chain Blizzard into something, for example. I totally get it for the Wizard, though, since he combos Slow, Fire Ward, and Blaze (I think) together and needs to do it all ASAP.

How rare are bone piles in the post-game dungeon? It would really be unfortunate if I couldn't make Skeletons work, since it's my primary reason for being attracted to the Sorceress' gameplay. I was hoping I could go CC-focused and assist them for good damage.

I don't really get the create food obsession - get hit less? Maybe it's just me only being on normal, but I almost never get hit. If my partners get hit, they need to L2P. :p

Protection is kind of on the same level as Create Food for me, except that it makes a big difference in terms of letting the Wizard do his thing, and it might help Skeleton play since they are idiots.

I was thinking of Petrification as an anti-mage skill. Even as a support character, the Sorceress doesn't have a lot of ways to lock casters down. I usually run around using d+O on a lightning staff to stun and keep them in place, but turning casters to stone seems a lot better. Curse sends a projectile that polymorphs as I understand it, and I imagine casters tend to teleport out of that. Thoughts on my theoretical thinking?

Skeletons aren't useful period.
After I stopped relying on healing I respeced to remove create food and replaced it with curse. Makes taking out black goblins/skeletons etc infinitely easier.
What about Skeletons with these spells backing them:
Ice Prison
Curse
Petrification
Protection
Blizzard, Rock Press, or Gravity

Can enemies attack while affected by Gravity?
 

perorist

Unconfirmed Member
With the protection buff staff it's 75% damage reduction + no stagger. Damage-wise the staff is only decent for at most 10 levels after you get it though. As for adroit hands, you can spam blizzard and rock press alternating, keep up protection, and use regular spell attacks in between.

Create food is useful if you want to keep an AI party alive (you get 72 pieces of food at max level), or just lets you keep going and heal up whenever, pretty good for soloing bosses. Normal mode really shouldn't be used as the meter stick for anything in terms of difficulty/damage.

Rock press works fine for me as far as anti-mage/skeleton. Nice damage, works on everything, and instantly staggers/stuns everything near it.

You're lucky to find 1 or 2 bone piles per stage of the post game dungeon so revive skeleton can barely be used even if you wanted to.
 

Giolon

Member
Oh well.

Is it just me or is Protection one of the best spells for the Sorceress? Partywide damage reduction and no knockback for over 40s I think at max level.

Protection is amazing - especially with a Wizard or Amazon in your party for the anti-knockback effect alone.

I feel like I may start my Sorceress over b/c I invested pretty heavily into Thunderhead and it's just not that great.

Rock Crusher is surprisingly awesome as a near-instant direct damage + full screen crowd control.

Blizzard is nice, ok damage and ok crowd control.

Create Food I normally take along instead of taking potions.

I haven't much experience with the other spells yet. How are Ice Prison, Gravity, Petrify, Curse, etc.?
 

Paches

Member
Is there anything that can be done to protect against tons of durability loss by spamming out spells (I am a wizard)? Only option is seems is to just have a lot of back up gear so you can keep adventuring.
 
Protection is amazing - especially with a Wizard or Amazon in your party for the anti-knockback effect alone.

I feel like I may start my Sorceress over b/c I invested pretty heavily into Thunderhead and it's just not that great.

Rock Crusher is surprisingly awesome as a near-instant direct damage + full screen crowd control.

Blizzard is nice, ok damage and ok crowd control.

Create Food I normally take along instead of taking potions.

I haven't much experience with the other spells yet. How are Ice Prison, Gravity, Petrify, Curse, etc.?

I've used Ice prison and it didn't seem to do anything. Blizzard is much better as it hits everything on the screen.

Also I never considered to replace pots with Create Food. Thanks for the tip.
 

Velcro Fly

Member
Only played a couple hours as the elf and I already feel like she has a higher skill ceiling than the dwarf. The dwarf I could damage stuff just by being in the same area. The elf it's all about positioning myself for a hard hitting arrow. Only level 7 or so right now but still having a ton of fun.
 

maomaoIYP

Member
What about Skeletons with these spells backing them:
Ice Prison
Curse
Petrification
Protection
Blizzard, Rock Press, or Gravity

Can enemies attack while affected by Gravity?

MP absorb doesn't work with skeletons, and bone piles are mostly non-existent in the labyrinth. That's partly why I stopped relying on them. I leveled the skeletons to level 4 where they are 80% of my level but they were still getting shredded.
Sorceress' spells are almost all gear towards AOE or support, the most useful spell in a boss fight is actually protection, so that you can tank the boss safely.
You can still attack while being sucked in by gravity. I prefer curse over petrification because petrification doesn't seem to always work, curse seems to always work, but can be blocked.
Also just jump with square (hold) works well vs casters.
 
I've used Ice prison and it didn't seem to do anything. Blizzard is much better as it hits everything on the screen.

Also I never considered to replace pots with Create Food. Thanks for the tip.
Ice Prison locks enemies out from passing by the pillars and also blocks projectiles. It's pretty good, and a lot of Sorceresses like it. I'm only so-so on it. It works on some bosses, and that can be a huge deal.

Also, quoting myself to get feedback on some thoughts:

Does MP absorb work off of Skeleton kills?

What about Skeletons with these spells backing them:
Ice Prison
Curse
Petrification
Protection
Blizzard, Rock Press, or Gravity

Can enemies attack while affected by Gravity?
 

maomaoIYP

Member
I haven't much experience with the other spells yet. How are Ice Prison, Gravity, Petrify, Curse, etc.?

Ice prison casts two long ice barriers along the z axis trapping stuff inside for a few seconds. Bosses can be trapped for a very short period before they simply break out of it. Petrify is a full screen AOE that turns stuff to stone, but it can be resisted. Curse shoots out one large ball per level that turns everything standing in front of you into a frog. Frogs have lowered defenses and can be killed a lot easier.
 

Endo Punk

Member
preordered my copy for Euro release. I just have one final concern, playing SP I'm not forced to play with AI characters like Dragon's Dogma, right?
 

Paches

Member
I'm dying here; I can't find anyone to grind B route with me on hard. Add me if you can get on now. Gamertag is my username here. I'm a lvl 53 elf.

I will once I get done with my current grind session if you can wait a little bit, shouldn't be too much longer. ItWasLucky is my PSN.
 

Raxus

Member
I will once I get done with my current grind session if you can wait a little bit, shouldn't be too much longer. ItWasLucky is my PSN.
I could use some help too. I am useless with the leveling necklace.

I can help you in the mean time on PS3 SWG. My PSN is College_Boy
 

Giolon

Member
Ice prison casts two long ice barriers along the z axis trapping stuff inside for a few seconds. Bosses can be trapped for a very short period before they simply break out of it. Petrify is a full screen AOE that turns stuff to stone, but it can be resisted. Curse shoots out one large ball per level that turns everything standing in front of you into a frog. Frogs have lowered defenses and can be killed a lot easier.

This Curse....I must try it!
 

maomaoIYP

Member
This Curse....I must try it!

I find it useful on hard and above, because of the annoying black goblins and skeletons, red zombies and orange lizardmen. Skeletons can block the curse orbs with their shields though, so either shoot it at their backs or stun them first.
 
Sorceress players: which staff element do you find the best for CC?

At first, I thought "Oh ice, that's good because it freezes things."
Then I looked at lightning, and found out that down+O guarantees stun unless the mob is immune - way better than a 30% freeze chance!
But when I play my Wizard (fire), I notice that everything is bouncing around everywhere from fireballs so often that I don't even care about the status effects, and things die faster anyway. The knockdown is the status effect, and ice and lightning aren't as strong in that area.

Thoughts?
 
Damn, I can't play this via wireless connection on my PS3 at all.. Too laggy.
People were teleporting everywhere and I was shooting arrows at dudes who were already dead haha.
 

maomaoIYP

Member
Sorceress players: which staff element do you find the best for CC?

At first, I thought "Oh ice, that's good because it freezes things."
Then I looked at lightning, and found out that down+O guarantees stun unless the mob is immune - way better than a 30% freeze chance!
But when I play my Wizard (fire), I notice that everything is bouncing around everywhere from fireballs so often that I don't even care about the status effects, and things die faster anyway. The knockdown is the status effect, and ice and lightning aren't as strong in that area.

Thoughts?
I like ice and fire but it doesn't really matter because I decide which staff to bring depending on the boss or the weakness of a majority of the enemies in the stage.
 
I don't want to get spoiled for the 2nd boss fights but I know they're bigger and badder.

Anyway, to those who saw all of them, I'll ask about just one:

Is there a giant spider boss as one of the 2nd boss fights?

Thanks.
 
Damn, I hate going to camp and then everyone is gone. :|

Game feels great on Vita. Using the touchscreen for the chests and jazz is neat but yeah, the slowdown gets a little thick. Goes sub 20 at times of pure madness. Otherwise, fairly amazing version. Gonna be back on later. Hopefully people will stick around this time.
 

Giolon

Member
Bummer, but thanks.

But the 2nd bosses are pretty awesome, right? Without revealing anything, are they really grand and big?

The 1st bosses have been more like mini-bosses so far.

The 2nd bosses are generally more epic than the 1st round bosses and feature more gimmicks along the line of the genie lamp.
 
Any tips for bringing down the demon with the Wizard? I can levitate over most of the stuff he throws pretty okay but I have a ton of trouble putting down enough DPS to bring him down before the timer runs out. Even bringing along 4 different spells and using the whole stock doesn't seem to do enough.
 
Finally beat normal on my first character after 16 hours :D lvl 35 elf and that last boss was a bitch, took 3 retries. AI died instantly lol. Getting destroyed on level 1 of hard =[
 
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