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Dragon's Dogma 2 |OT| Pawnworld

SCB3

Member
So I found the Elves little village and jesus the lack of Fast Travel hurts here, its quite a distance from Vernworth alone, but its kinda cool that no one speaks my language yet, I do have a Archer quest here as well, so thats next

Also a Dragon landed in the Middle of Vernworth before I left, but flew off without dropping any crystals, I've never gonna get that last one
 

GHG

Member
I didn't have much problem with the enemies in the second area myself, but I've been grinding a good bit. What level are you, btw? Also, I felt the weapons I got in the border town were more than sufficient, but that may also go back to leveling.

What's the issue with the ox cart to Battahl again?

Allow me to summarise the issue here and why this is an obvious example of how and why they made that portcrystal a microtransaction (if they didn't think people would buy it then they wouldn't have it available for sale):

  • This is a game that encourages exploration and creativity (that we can all agree on)
  • I picked up a side-quest that required me to speak to someone in Battahl. Upon reaching checkpoint rest town, unless you have progressed the main quest far enough then you will get cockblocked when you attempt to go through the gate/border to Battahl.
  • So there's me thinking there must be another way around, look at the map and I can see the river goes around the town and will take you through to the southern area of the map - I go to check it out
  • The river is shallow enough to be traverasable so I rest up at the inn overnight and prepare for the journey
  • The path along the river, through some caves and then on to a main path to Battahl is Hard, there are tons of hard enemies, bosses and a dragon along the path but I press on.
  • To make matters worse along this journey my main pawn dies along the way because they got thrown off a cliff by a boss and I couldn't get down to revive them in time, with that my camping kit is gone, and night falls.
  • As you can imagine, EVEN MORE hard bosses come out to play and at this point I'm simply running for my life trying to survive because I can see on the map I've got less distance to cover to get to Battahl than what's gone before. My other two pawns die along the way.
  • I've travelled through the night, it's now daytime and I eventually make it to Battahl.
  • The journey took me 3 hours of playtime and pretty much all of the curables and potions I had in my possession.
Sounds great right, but did I find it rewarding? No, not in the slightest, in fact it felt like a slap in the face once I reached Battahl and found out there was no port Crystal. One of the motivations to stay the course during that trip was me thinking there will be a portcrystal at Battahl and I would be stupid to go that far and not eventually unlock it. Well, the jokes on me.

To make matters worse, the oxcarts are out of service (again, I've since discovered you need to have progressed the main quest far enough to have them operational in this region) and despite me finding a guy near Battahl who will sell me a portcrystal in exchange for some dragon materials I can't even get that because I don't have enough of those.

At this point I can 100% see what they are trying to do with selling that portcrystal and I suspect it's at this point most people who have purchased it will have done so out of exasperation. I'm left with the following options:
  • Find a dragon (or 2) in the region to kill so I can get the materials to give to the guy who is selling the portcrystal
  • Or get back to Vernworth, especially making the 3 hour trip that I should have been able to look back on fondly worthless and a waste of time.
That's the last time I'm doing a big trip/adventure in this game without having a spare portcrystal in my possession, and that's a shame because you should be free to be able to explore far and wide without fear that it's going to make your life more difficult.
 
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Kacho

Gold Member
I even put a port crystal up in the desert city but now i dont have any ferystones.
I was never starved for ferrystones personally. I’m sure this depends on how much you explore and how much you use them, but with ox carts available I rarely used them.

In Dark Arisen they added an eternal ferrystone. I’m sure we’ll see one eventually in this.

I’m not saying your opinion is wrong btw. Just saying I gelled with the design decision, likely due to my experience with the first game. I had that expectation going in.
 

FoxMcChief

Gold Member
I make a list of things I want to accomplish in my next session. Yeah, I’m pretty hooked. I ran into a Drake I’m not strong enough or equipped well enough to beat. I don’t even think we cleared one of its health bars. It was somewhere past the cave where I found Rodger’s clothes. I could have headed back to town, but decided to the other direction.

Next on my to:do list is get better gear for my pawn, then go back to the main quest. The last thing I did was complete the monster culling for Brante or whatever his name is. I think the mission is now to go to some village.

I just keep exploring.
 

FoxMcChief

Gold Member
With combat being the only way to level up vocations, and that’s something everyone should be doing at all times, I just don’t see how fast travel should be used until end game stuff. And by then, you should have a few portcrystals unlocked and a ton of ferrystones. But maybe that’s just how I’m playing.
 

Kacho

Gold Member
With combat being the only way to level up vocations, and that’s something everyone should be doing at all times, I just don’t see how fast travel should be used until end game stuff. And by then, you should have a few portcrystals unlocked and a ton of ferrystones. But maybe that’s just how I’m playing.
For me it was literally, my questing brought me to a volcano on the far side of the map and I need to go to the opposite side. I’ll use a ferrystone here.
 

Topher

Gold Member
Allow me to summarise the issue here and why this is an obvious example of how and why they made that portcrystal a microtransaction (if they didn't think people would buy it then they wouldn't have it available for sale):

  • This is a game that encourages exploration and creativity (that we can all agree on)
  • I picked up a side-quest that required me to speak to someone in Battahl. Upon reaching checkpoint rest town, unless you have progressed the main quest far enough then you will get cockblocked when you attempt to go through the gate/border to Battahl.
  • So there's me thinking there must be another way around, look at the map and I can see the river goes around the town and will take you through to the southern area of the map - I go to check it out
  • The river is shallow enough to be traverasable so I rest up at the inn overnight and prepare for the journey
  • The path along the river, through some caves and then on to a main path to Battahl is Hard, there are tons of hard enemies, bosses and a dragon along the path but I press on.
  • To make matters worse along this journey my main pawn dies along the way because they got thrown off a cliff by a boss and I couldn't get down to revive them in time, with that my camping kit is gone, and night falls.
  • As you can imagine, EVEN MORE hard bosses come out to play and at this point I'm simply running for my life trying to survive because I can see on the map I've got less distance to cover to get to Battahl than what's gone before. My other two pawns die along the way.
  • I've travelled through the night, it's now daytime and I eventually make it to Battahl.
  • The journey took me 3 hours of playtime and pretty much all of the curables and potions I had in my possession.
Sounds great right, but did I find it rewarding? No, not in the slightest, in fact it felt like a slap in the face once I reached Battahl and found out there was no port Crystal. One of the motivations to stay the course during that trip was me thinking there will be a portcrystal at Battahl and I would be stupid to go that far and not eventually unlock it. Well, the jokes on me.

To make matters worse, the oxcarts are out of service (again, I've since discovered you need to have progressed the main quest far enough to have them operational in this region) and despite me finding a guy near Battahl who will sell me a portcrystal in exchange for some dragon materials I can't even get that because I don't have enough of those.

At this point I can 100% see what they are trying to do with selling that portcrystal and I suspect it's at this point most people who have purchased it will have done so out of exasperation. I'm left with the following options:
  • Find a dragon (or 2) in the region to kill so I can get the materials to give to the guy who is selling the portcrystal
  • Or get back to Vernworth, especially making the 3 hour trip that I should have been able to look back on fondly worthless and a waste of time.
That's the last time I'm doing a big trip/adventure in this game without having a spare portcrystal in my possession, and that's a shame because you should be free to be able to explore far and wide without fear that it's going to make your life more difficult.

I get what you are saying and yeah, sounds aggravating. There should definitely be a portcrystal in Battahl. I guess my playthrough has just taken me in such a route that I haven't encountered those issues. None of the ox carts have been out of service, for example, and I make use of them regularly. As I said earlier, I've only used two ferrystones. But I also really enjoy grinding a bit which I think is really needed to get the most out of this game. But yeah, the situation with the Battahl area definitely sounds like it was engineered to sell portcrystals. At the same time, the ox carts do become an option even if they are not available right away.

With combat being the only way to level up vocations, and that’s something everyone should be doing at all times, I just don’t see how fast travel should be used until end game stuff. And by then, you should have a few portcrystals unlocked and a ton of ferrystones. But maybe that’s just how I’m playing.

That's how I'm playing as well. I like to get ahead of the leveling curve in games like this by quite a bit. Really want to save the ferrystones until I'm pretty close to the end and I want to do some clean up traveling.
 
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FoxMcChief

Gold Member
You guys will be swimming in ferrystones by the end.
I’ve had Ogres drop them quite a few times. I think maybe 1/3 of the times they drop them for me.

So yet another great reason to fight the tough (early on) enemies. They give great XP and rewards.
 
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Kacho

Gold Member
I’ve had Ogres drop them quite a few times. I think maybe 1/3 of the times they drop them for me.
Oh you ain’t nothing yet brother.

Literally this guy
flat,750x,075,f-pad,750x1000,f8f8f8.jpg
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
You guys will be swimming in ferrystones by the end.

I have like 8 in my inventory but I deliberately haven't used them. Taking an ox cart from settlement to settlement (and getting attacked on the way) is just thematically better, extra exp and better 'role playing'.

That being said, I have yet to find a single portcrystal either :( which kinda sucks .

Anyone wanna spoil me some portcrystal locations, please feel free to do so.

I did, however, get an Elite camping kit, which is like half the weight so that's nice.
 
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FoxMcChief

Gold Member
I have like 8 in my inventory but I deliberately haven't used them. Taking an ox cart from settlement to settlement (and getting attacked on the way) is just thematically better, extra exp and better 'role playing'.

That being said, I have yet to find a single portcrystal either :( which kinda sucks .

Anyone wanna spoil me some portcrystal locations, please feel free to do so.
The Xbox shop
 

ssringo

Member
Anyone wanna spoil me some portcrystal locations, please feel free to do so.
Have you found that foggy area? Explore around the southern parts.

There's a Griffin nest on the southern section where you can find one.

There's an elf by the weapon vendor in the capital. His questline will reward you with one.

One of her riddles will duplicate any item.
 
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Yerd

Member
Allow me to summarise the issue here and why this is an obvious example of how and why they made that portcrystal a microtransaction (if they didn't think people would buy it then they wouldn't have it available for sale):

  • This is a game that encourages exploration and creativity (that we can all agree on)
  • I picked up a side-quest that required me to speak to someone in Battahl. Upon reaching checkpoint rest town, unless you have progressed the main quest far enough then you will get cockblocked when you attempt to go through the gate/border to Battahl.
  • So there's me thinking there must be another way around, look at the map and I can see the river goes around the town and will take you through to the southern area of the map - I go to check it out
  • The river is shallow enough to be traverasable so I rest up at the inn overnight and prepare for the journey
  • The path along the river, through some caves and then on to a main path to Battahl is Hard, there are tons of hard enemies, bosses and a dragon along the path but I press on.
  • To make matters worse along this journey my main pawn dies along the way because they got thrown off a cliff by a boss and I couldn't get down to revive them in time, with that my camping kit is gone, and night falls.
  • As you can imagine, EVEN MORE hard bosses come out to play and at this point I'm simply running for my life trying to survive because I can see on the map I've got less distance to cover to get to Battahl than what's gone before. My other two pawns die along the way.
  • I've travelled through the night, it's now daytime and I eventually make it to Battahl.
  • The journey took me 3 hours of playtime and pretty much all of the curables and potions I had in my possession.
Sounds great right, but did I find it rewarding? No, not in the slightest, in fact it felt like a slap in the face once I reached Battahl and found out there was no port Crystal. One of the motivations to stay the course during that trip was me thinking there will be a portcrystal at Battahl and I would be stupid to go that far and not eventually unlock it. Well, the jokes on me.

To make matters worse, the oxcarts are out of service (again, I've since discovered you need to have progressed the main quest far enough to have them operational in this region) and despite me finding a guy near Battahl who will sell me a portcrystal in exchange for some dragon materials I can't even get that because I don't have enough of those.

At this point I can 100% see what they are trying to do with selling that portcrystal and I suspect it's at this point most people who have purchased it will have done so out of exasperation. I'm left with the following options:
  • Find a dragon (or 2) in the region to kill so I can get the materials to give to the guy who is selling the portcrystal
  • Or get back to Vernworth, especially making the 3 hour trip that I should have been able to look back on fondly worthless and a waste of time.
That's the last time I'm doing a big trip/adventure in this game without having a spare portcrystal in my possession, and that's a shame because you should be free to be able to explore far and wide without fear that it's going to make your life more difficult.


I feel like you maybe just made bad decisions in your journey here. To me it sounds like you're just not playing the game in a, I won't say wrong, but it's kinda wrong, a not cohesive way.

I did sort of the same journey you did, but I was level 20 or 30ish at the time. I had a pretty good grasp of the game mechanics. I was annoyed the same way, when I searched probably a half hour for a portcrystal in the only city in battahl. But, I sucked it up, went back to other areas and once I found a portcrystal, I pledged it to battahl. I have since received maybe 3 more portcrystals and have permanently placed one at the elf town and battahl and the dragonforged. I only just bought the one from the dragonforged and have that for any new places.

I have explored so much, I have more ferrystones than I can use. I buy them when I see them. I'm pretty sure every town sells at least one. There is one for sale in bakbattahl, probably the vendor next to the armorer.

It sounds like I have probably used more ferrystones than anyone in this thread. I have ferrystoned my heart out.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Have you found that foggy area? Explore around the southern parts.

There's a Griffin nest on the southern section where you can find one.

No, I killed the griffon already separately. If the foggy area is around the check-point town, I'll go explore in my next session.

So far in my main quest, I've only done one of the three quests the captain gives you when you first enter the capital. Most of my time has been spent exploring and doing side quests. I don't normally stray from the main path in these open world style games (eg Ronin) but in this game, I'm enjoying just the act of exploring the world and running into weird things a lot.
 
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FoxMcChief

Gold Member
No, I killed the griffon already separately. If the foggy area is around the check-point town, I'll go explore in my next session.

So far in my main quest, I've only done one of the three quests the captain gives you when you first enter the capital. Most of my time has been spent exploring and doing side quests. I don't normally stray from the main path in these open world style games (eg Ronin) but in this game, I'm enjoying just the act of exploring the world and running into weird things a lot.
The griffon?

Brace Yourself Here We Go GIF by MOODMAN


There are griffons all over the place!
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
The griffon?

Brace Yourself Here We Go GIF by MOODMAN


There are griffons all over the place!

There's more than one? fuck, lol.

I ran into, what I thought, was the same singular Griffon at 3 different parts of the world during different quests before finally managing to kill it.
 

Kacho

Gold Member
I have like 8 in my inventory but I deliberately haven't used them. Taking an ox cart from settlement to settlement (and getting attacked on the way) is just thematically better, extra exp and better 'role playing'.

That being said, I have yet to find a single portcrystal either :( which kinda sucks .

Anyone wanna spoil me some portcrystal locations, please feel free to do so.

I did, however, get an Elite camping kit, which is like half the weight so that's nice.
I only found 2 or 3 Portcrystals and I couldn’t even tell you where I found them. They’re a lot rarer in DD2. I’m sure all locations are detailed on a wiki.
 

Yerd

Member
I just switched to warfarer. It says you can equip and switch weapons. How can you do this? Every time I try to equip a second weapon it just switches to that weapon. What am I missing?
 
Who is this griffon y'all are speaking of?
Who Is That Jeremy Renner GIF by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon



I’m not saying your opinion is wrong btw. Just saying I gelled with the design decision, likely due to my experience with the first game. I had that expectation going in.
Yeah the first time I got a port crystal, I checked the map right away for strategic places to place them, ended up placing 2 and just had one with me when I reached bhattal the first time.
 

Yerd

Member
OK FYI if anyone else had this dumb shit. When you get warfarer, you get his maister teaching scroll. The scroll is basically the whole thing. What a stupid way to do this.

I had to find a video on how to equip different weapons, and noticed that rearmament skill was nowhere to be found. I did have it, just never used the scroll.
 

TintoConCasera

I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Lol, what a game. I'm the postgame, and while doing the evacuation of Vernworth, I decided to grab Disa and carry her to Sven's room just to fuck around. Turns out the game was prepared for this and might even be the best way to approach the quest. I love this shit, 0 indications given to the player on what to do so they have to figure things out by themselves.
 

DavidGzz

Gold Member
I missed so much shit in my first playthrough going by everyone's posts (after 90 hours, mind you), no wonder the game asks you 4 times if you're sure about starting new game plus. Anyway, I guess I'm going to check to see if my save mod works tonight, gonna see if I can go back to my first character and go to new game plus while keeping my current Ciri playthrough.
 

Kacho

Gold Member
I missed so much shit in my first playthrough going by everyone's posts (after 90 hours, mind you), no wonder the game asks you 4 times if you're sure about starting new game plus. Anyway, I guess I'm going to check to see if my save mod works tonight, gonna see if I can go back to my first character and go to new game plus while keeping my current Ciri playthrough.
So did I but that’s by design. You go into a new play through with earned knowledge and lots of great stuff at your disposal so you can chew through the game with ease.

Was considering finishing up Horizon Zero Dawn but I might YOLO NG+.
 

Meicyn

Gold Member
With combat being the only way to level up vocations, and that’s something everyone should be doing at all times, I just don’t see how fast travel should be used until end game stuff. And by then, you should have a few portcrystals unlocked and a ton of ferrystones. But maybe that’s just how I’m playing.
That’s precisely how I’m playing, I think I am still in Act 2 of the game’s story after getting past the coronation, am level 55, and I have six vocations maxed. Working on Magick Archer right now, Mystic Spearhand is next, and no idea where I unlock Trickster just yet. Likewise Warfarer.

I’m doing the same thing in this game that I did in Elden Ring, combing everything tooth and nail and revisiting locations constantly. I spent 280+ hours on that game before I beat it and managed to beat every questline save one that I missed. DD2 is at 79 hours so far and I still have quite a bit of unexplored area. I refuse to consult guides, games like these are meant to be an experience, IMO.

I hope a hard mode is added via DLC along with an expansion ala Dark Arisen.
 

MagiusNecros

Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
Lol, what a game. I'm the postgame, and while doing the evacuation of Vernworth, I decided to grab Disa and carry her to Sven's room just to fuck around. Turns out the game was prepared for this and might even be the best way to approach the quest. I love this shit, 0 indications given to the player on what to do so they have to figure things out by themselves.
Yeah I love it. I think Dragon's Dogma has made it to where I'll never consider playing another modern MMO ever again. Dogma is just too good.
 

Kacho

Gold Member
How did NG+ work in Dark Arisen. Was it meant for NG+ play throughs? I only completed the base game on Xbox 360 when it launched.
 

Mattdaddy

Gold Member
So Im rocking through NG+ with all the gear I acquired in the end game section... but Im so wildly OP its not really fun anymore.

Im thinking about just starting a totally new game but looks like that will replace my NG+ save... is that true?

If so I might still do it... but would I be missing out on anything by losing that NG+? Just want to make sure I dont regret it if its gone.

But I think Id like to start totally fresh and try the other vocations with a clean slate. I only played fighter and warrior up till now.
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
HOLY SHIT
Just went to Melve via cart for a different quest, the village was under attack by a fucking puss-dragon with 8 health bars lol.

Managed to drive it down to 4 and then it flew away ..

Was not expecting this encounter.
 
Regarding travel, this game is a bit like death stranding. At first it's a struggle to going from point A to B. My first trip to bakbattahl was brutal. Now I have a portcrystal there (I have four so far). The trip itself is much easier now.
 

MagiusNecros

Gilgamesh Fan Annoyance
So Im rocking through NG+ with all the gear I acquired in the end game section... but Im so wildly OP its not really fun anymore.

Im thinking about just starting a totally new game but looks like that will replace my NG+ save... is that true?

If so I might still do it... but would I be missing out on anything by losing that NG+? Just want to make sure I dont regret it if its gone.

But I think Id like to start totally fresh and try the other vocations with a clean slate. I only played fighter and warrior up till now.
Endgame/high level gear is sold at most vendors in NG+. I also like how the map doesn't have any black spots. Stuff you discovered shows up on the map. Undiscovered caves don't show up until you find them and it looks like areas available in the endgame are hidden as well.

You also keep most of your inventory in NG+ so you should have all your gear and items as well as Port Crystals and Ferrystones.

I think NG+ is probably a good way to test out and optimize a Warfarer playthrough given it's versatility with Weapon Swap.

Or just play another runthrough of the game with a different vocation.
 
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DavidGzz

Gold Member
Ok, went back to old save. Talked to old spirit dude from the beginning twice and it made me do the boss fight again this time. Weird.
 
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