Support NeoGAF

[Sanctuary]

Btw do you know that you can call the pawns to come running with you with the down button of the d-pad?

Yes, I know what the commands are. Too bad they rarely ever do anything besides forcing a mage pawn to cast the heal spell via "help". "Go" doesn't work half of the time, or the pawns simply rush ahead and stand around instead of attacking. "Come" won't work either in the middle of a fight if they are already engaged. What's the greatest is when a mage pawn is trying to cast a healing spell in the middle of a ton of archers again and again way off in the distance, even though "Come" was mashed 30x. The escort quests are horrible too, because instead of the escort staying back on the road, they rush ahead into a swarm of enemies and just run around while getting whacked on.

The game wouldn't be nearly as awful for combat if they had included a damn "attack my target" or something similar command, instead of wasting two commands on "help". Pawns never focus fire and are too busy wasting time seperated, soloing enemies that take forever to drop that way.

 

[sublimit]

I agree that the pawn management system left a lot to be desired.Hopefully they will improve those things (and many others) in the sequel.

 

[ixix]

For whatever reason the bandits with swords and shields are more dangerous than the rest of their buddies combined. The best way to deal with them early on is to hit them with something that knocks them down then let one of your pawns grapple them, or if you're a shield user to bait them into hitting your shield then attacking while they're reeling. Try to clear out anybody accompanying them first so you can just focus them down.

Also worth keeping in mind that using the d-pad commands will change your pawn's inclinations over time, usually for the worse. It's generally better in the long run to use the knowledge chair and the items Johnathan sells to set their inclinations to something nice then never touch the d-pad. Without any on-the-spot orders to give you have to either screen pawns from the rift for inclinations before hiring them or just deal with lots of pawns being rather dim bulbs and console yourself with the knowledge that your main pawn is a cut above.

 

[RyanardoDaVinci]

Wow, I didn't even think of that. Good call.

Any idea about the second question? Those argentine sacs only drop off one enemy, and they only spawn

Spoiler

in two of those chambers, which is kinda crazy.

I think I need like four as well, heh.

Make a forgery. Even if it's very expensive, you can run through the Everfall again for some wakestones.

I did that with many of the rarer items/materials; just make however many you need +1, in case you'll need it again for another weapon or armor.

 

[Lumpy Onion]

Is any of the DLC must-have? This is gonna be my game for winter break from Uni. But I have no idea if any of the DLC is worth it or not. Thanks.

 

[sublimit]

Is any of the DLC must-have? This is gonna be my game for winter break from Uni. But I have no idea if any of the DLC is worth it or not. Thanks.

It's crap. Save your money for the upcoming expansion.

 

[Lumpy Onion]

It's crap. Save your money for the upcoming expansion.

Thanks for saving me the time.

 

[Anteater]

ha, the beginning is pretty fun so far on hard, things kind of one shot you so you have to watch out and keep your stamina up and distant yourself from being crowded, elementals are really useful now and it allows you to be a bit more strategic, fire does a shitload more damage and ice boon freezes enemies from oneshotting you.

My pawn came back with almost all knowledge from resting when I started from scratch so that helps, I'm able to just freeze the fuck out of the saurians down the well with ice boon, good shit.

I think the new damage doesn't apply to pawns? Either that or they've been able to avoid hits better than I do (lol).

 

[sublimit]

Ok WTF? I'm on NG+ and just finished Deny Salvation.I return to Gran Soren and Asalam isn't there...what happened?
I even went to Cassardis,slept for one night,returned to GS and he still isn't there.

 

[ixix]

Ok WTF? I'm on NG+ and just finished Deny Salvation.I return to Gran Soren and Asalam isn't there...what happened?
I even went to Cassardis,slept for one night,returned to GS and he still isn't there.

Spoiler

The dragon took him away seeing as how you've got the hots for him and all. Enjoy having to go to Cassardis to change classes in the post-game.

 

[sublimit]

Spoiler

The dragon took him away seeing as how you've got the hots for him and all. Enjoy having to go to Cassardis to change classes in the post-game.

Spoiler

I was afraid of that.-_-The thing is i thought had also maxed out my affinity with Selene,The dutches,and Quina otherwise i would have hit him once or twice.And how the fuck am i supposed to keep my afinity low with a ventor that i have to speak with him constantly during the game.That's just bad game design.

 

[ixix]

Spoiler

I was afraid of that.-_-The thing is i thought had also maxed out my affinity with Selene,The dutches,and Quina otherwise i would have hit him once or twice.And how the fuck am i supposed to keep my afinity low with a ventor that i have to speak with him constantly during the game.That's just bad game design.

I'm pretty sure the way it works is

Spoiler

that the game chooses whichever character has the highest affinity for the Arisen, and in the case of a tie (i.e. multiple maxed-out characters) it prioritizes whichever character you spoke to last before completing Deny Salvation. So lots of people end up with Asalam because they save in Gran Soren before setting out, and his affinity is maxed 'cause of all the talking to him you do over the course of the game. Theoretically you can choose who you want by giving the Arisen's Bond to someone, talking to them, then heading straight to the Greatwall and completing Deny Salvation without ever talking to anybody else on the way.

At least that's the theory that was most plausible last I checked. Not sure if people have hammered out anything more concrete in the interim.

Personally, I'm planning on

Spoiler

aiming for Feste this game.

 

[sublimit]

Spoiler

Theoretically you can choose who you want by giving the Arisen's Bond to someone, talking to them, then heading straight to the Greatwall and completing Deny Salvation without ever talking to anybody else on the way.

Damn i forgot completely about it.But then again i wasn't expecting this to happen...

Anyway as i said it was a stupid idea to include ventors in the afinity system especially one as important as Asalam. They should have at least allowed you to change vocation and skills whenever you wanted.

 

[Supermanisdead]

Can anyone break down how stat gain works for different classes? Like I'm guessing leveling up as a Warrior raises your HP and probably attack, but are there hard numbers for the other classes?

 

[Xevren]

Can anyone break down how stat gain works for different classes? Like I'm guessing leveling up as a Warrior raises your HP and probably attack, but are there hard numbers for the other classes?

This should work for you.

 

[Semblance]

Make a forgery. Even if it's very expensive, you can run through the Everfall again for some wakestones.

I did that with many of the rarer items/materials; just make however many you need +1, in case you'll need it again for another weapon or armor.

Man. How did I not think of this.

Thanks.

I got everything I needed. My pawn is sittin' pretty right now with mostly excellent gear and full enchantments. Don't know why I went through so much trouble for a dumb AI partner who seems to only clobber enemies when she feels like it, but hey, you know.

 

[Deified Data]

Is any of the DLC must-have? This is gonna be my game for winter break from Uni. But I have no idea if any of the DLC is worth it or not. Thanks.

Only the cosmetic items you feel like you must have. The notice board quests are...well, notice board quests.

 

[Deified Data]

Spoiler

I was afraid of that.-_-The thing is i thought had also maxed out my affinity with Selene,The dutches,and Quina otherwise i would have hit him once or twice.And how the fuck am i supposed to keep my afinity low with a ventor that i have to speak with him constantly during the game.That's just bad game design.

It's horrible game design. I don't mind that RI's are in this game, but I wish they were optional. Barring that, I wish the affinity system were a little more transparent.

 

[ixix]

I love the affinity system. It's the most awesome-yet-janky part of the entire awesome-yet-janky Dragon's Dogma experience. There should really be some sort of fallback for the Asalam issue just because of how awkward it can make handling item storage and class changes, but otherwise I want that crazy diamond to shine on.

 

[Deified Data]

Why do you hate Vivi so much, ixix?

 

[KO Traveling Hobo]

It's horrible game design. I don't mind that RI's are in this game, but I wish they were optional. Barring that, I wish the affinity system were a little more transparent.

Hell no!

Spoiler

An obese bald man out of fucking nowhere stumbling around while being chased by goblins

was easily one of my favorite moments in the entire game, and the following campfire scene was icing on the beautifully terrifying cake.

 

[ixix]

Why do you hate Vivi so much, ixix?

Because any four-letter name consisting of two repetitive syllables should always follow the form of vowel-consonant-vowel-consonant, not consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel. Why that filthy little automaton can't get that through his empty, soulless lack-of-a-skull is beyond me, but I loathe him for it.

Or at least that's what I said in some random Final Fantasy-related thread some 2 or 3 years ago, then made this avatar to double down on my arbitrary name proscription because I guess I was feeling a bit ornery that day. The fact that I've kept it this long probably reflects rather poorly on me.

The original joke only even makes sense if you pronounce my username "icks-icks," when technically it's actually supposed to be a pair of 9's.

 

[Tomodachi]

Because any four-letter name consisting of two repetitive syllables should always follow the form of vowel-consonant-vowel-consonant, not consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel. Why that filthy little automaton can't get that through his empty, soulless lack-of-a-skull is beyond me, but I loathe him for it.

Or at least that's what I said in some random Final Fantasy-related thread some 2 or 3 years ago, then made this avatar to double down on my arbitrary name proscription because I guess I was feeling a bit ornery that day. The fact that I've kept it this long probably reflects rather poorly on me.

The original joke only even makes sense if you pronounce my username "icks-icks," when technically it's actually supposed to be a pair of 9's.

mind = blown

 

[Sanctuary]

I agree that the pawn management system left a lot to be desired.Hopefully they will improve those things (and many others) in the sequel.

Game was equal parts annoying and fun initially, but I'm really starting to get into it now. The main reason I was having such a difficult time early on was because a) My "tank's" inclination wasn't very productive for tanking and b) Mages seem to start out extremely weak early on. I get that that's pretty common in many RPGs, but I mean it was just complete garbage compared to the Strider/Fighter. Stuck with it though, and those lame bandits were nothing after getting High Miasma.

It's a shame though about the secondary pawn AI though. They are just too stupid, especially the Mages that love to stop and attempt to heal in the middle of ballista fire (Shadow Fort wheee!) only to die again and again.

 

[Deified Data]

Because any four-letter name consisting of two repetitive syllables should always follow the form of vowel-consonant-vowel-consonant, not consonant-vowel-consonant-vowel. Why that filthy little automaton can't get that through his empty, soulless lack-of-a-skull is beyond me, but I loathe him for it.

Or at least that's what I said in some random Final Fantasy-related thread some 2 or 3 years ago, then made this avatar to double down on my arbitrary name proscription because I guess I was feeling a bit ornery that day. The fact that I've kept it this long probably reflects rather poorly on me.

The original joke only even makes sense if you pronounce my username "icks-icks," when technically it's actually supposed to be a pair of 9's.

...this is enlightening.

Hell no!

Spoiler

An obese bald man out of fucking nowhere stumbling around while being chased by goblins

was easily one of my favorite moments in the entire game, and the following campfire scene was icing on the beautifully terrifying cake.

Let's just say I can appreciate the tomfoolery from a distance, but I'd have hated it if my first playthrough ended up sticking me with Caxton and ruining what was otherwise an extremely satisfying conclusion to the game. I don't mind the system now that I know how it works (who among us doesn't enjoy punching the shit out of Asalam until he doesn't love us anymore?), but things could have got really hairy on that first playthrough...

 

[sublimit]

New info about the Dark Arisen expansion:
http://www.vg247.com/2012/12/08/dra...-allows-save-transfer-has-japanese-vo-option/

 

[Tomodachi]

What do you guys think they mean when they're talking about importing the save game?

 

[Anteater]

What do you guys think they mean when they're talking about importing the save game?

Probably keeping levels and/or equipments, if not then your appearance... maybe a line or two changes from returning npcs if you did their quests.

I'm assuming they're taking the dragon age awakening approach

 

[Anteater]

cleared the bandits to witchwood, those fighter bandits are really a pain in the ass early in the game even if you bait them, really appreciate strider pawns with ensnare to keep them stunned. Hard mode is making pawns a little more useful, I kind of like that.

 

[ixix]

Game was equal parts annoying and fun initially, but I'm really starting to get into it now. The main reason I was having such a difficult time early on was because a) My "tank's" inclination wasn't very productive for tanking and b) Mages seem to start out extremely weak early on. I get that that's pretty common in many RPGs, but I mean it was just complete garbage compared to the Strider/Fighter. Stuck with it though, and those lame bandits were nothing after getting High Miasma.

It's a shame though about the secondary pawn AI though. They are just too stupid, especially the Mages that love to stop and attempt to heal in the middle of ballista fire (Shadow Fort wheee!) only to die again and again.

Mages tend to suffer greatly from poor skill selection and inclinations. Mages with multiple weapon enchantments and the Guardian and Utilitarian inclinations tend to just get caught in a loop of repeatedly overriding weapon buffs on the Arisen rather than actually doing anything. It's not a good look. I usually look for Mages that have only a single weapon buff and either Scather or Challenger in either their primary or secondary inclination slot. They usually seem to contribute the most in combat, and they'll still heal you up in an emergency and when the battle's over without engaging in obsessive Anodyne spam every time a sliver of gray appears in your life bar.

If they make a sequel I'd be delighted if they created some sort of analogue to the Gambit system of FFXII for the pawns. The obtuseness of the inclination system along with how the AI struggles to use a lot of the game's skills effectively tends to make a lot of pawns a bit useless.

What do you guys think they mean when they're talking about importing the save game?

Apparently the game's going to be a retail release at least in Japan, so they're just making it clear that you'll be able to use existing vanilla Dragon's Dogma saves even though Dark Arisen is kinda sorta a new game. Or at least that's the impression I got.

...this is enlightening.

I live to serve.

 

[Deified Data]

Mages tend to suffer greatly from poor skill selection and inclinations. Mages with multiple weapon enchantments and the Guardian and Utilitarian inclinations tend to just get caught in a loop of repeatedly overriding weapon buffs on the Arisen rather than actually doing anything. It's not a good look. I usually look for Mages that have only a single weapon buff and either Scather or Challenger in either their primary or secondary inclination slot. They usually seem to contribute the most in combat, and they'll still heal you up in an emergency and when the battle's over without engaging in obsessive Anodyne spam every time a sliver of gray appears in your life bar.

Good advice.

Dear Arisens, please keep in mind that Fire Affinity is the only enchantment you need for 90% of the game, and Holy Affinity is the only enchantment you need for the last 10%. If I see your mage with either ice or shock enchantments or, God forbid, all of the enchantments at once, I'll be tempted to hire them only to immediately fire them with a 1 star usefulness and battle rating and a rotten beast scrag as a parting gift.

Thank you.

 

[Anteater]

Fire and holy helps you kill faster, but ice keeps you alive. Freezing hell hounds were great, but there's always elemental weapons you could buy later on so it doesn't really matter much.

 

[VanillaCakeIsBurning]

The expansion screens look pretty good. I'll be starting my hard mode run within the next week or so.

 

[Deified Data]

Fire and holy helps you kill faster, but ice keeps you alive. Freezing hell hounds were great, but there's always elemental weapons you could buy later on so it doesn't really matter much.

Yeah, those are my thoughts. I love to see mages with ice and shock spells, but as far as useful enchantments go they only need fire and holy, IMO. I wouldn't be overly turned off my just having ice or shock. But having all of them at once is a deal-breaker.

The expansion screens look pretty good. I'll be starting my hard mode run within the next week or so.

Same here. Gonna post some screens as soon as I make my new character.

 

[Anteater]

But having all of them at once is a deal-breaker.

Yea

 

[DY_nasty]

Just started playing this today. Absolutely love the combat and feel of the world.

Anything I should (not) be doing or looking out for? (Just left that first encampment)

 

[Tomodachi]

Just started playing this today. Absolutely love the combat and feel of the world.

Anything I should (not) be doing or looking out for? (Just left that first encampment)

If you're into achievements/trophies you should seek out a missable quests guide. Beware of spoilers though, I suggest doing that during your second playthrough.

 

[Anteater]

Just started playing this today. Absolutely love the combat and feel of the world.

Anything I should (not) be doing or looking out for? (Just left that first encampment)

If you receive quests from important npcs, you should do them before you finish the next story-based quests, because some quests expires, but that's only if you're a completionist. Item fetching/kill x amount of enemies could be done through out the game so you could pick them up when you're at the notice board and do them whenever you want/while you're traveling.

You could also switch jobs at the inn whenever you want so if you maxed out one class or if you find the class boring, you could try out another class, there really aren't much benefits to sticking to 1 class, and in general the hybrid classes are better than the basic ones.

 

[Anteater]

From an old character, thought it looked pretty cool:

And meet my new character!

 

[Deified Data]

Is she going to stay a Fighter, Anteater?

 

[Anteater]

Is she going to stay a Fighter, Anteater?

Nope, going mystic knight.

Fighter is kind of boring end game , I didn't really like fighter the first play through towards the end but I stuck with it.

 

[ixix]

I ended up doing Fighter -> Mystic Knight for my fresh hard mode game, too. Seemed like a logical choice what with the good HP growth, plenty of ranged attacks, and using a shield. I used a staff until I unlocked Great Cannon and have been rolling with a sword ever since.

There's kind of an interesting point about hard mode, though: the amount of Discipline you receive doesn't seem to be increased the way gold and experience are. I maxed out my Mystic Knight rank around level 40 after switching from Fighter at 15. For all that you're swimming in cash and earning levels at an alarming pace you've still got to allocate pretty much the same amount of time to increasing your vocation ranks as you do on normal.

Now that I've actually maxed out Mystic Knight I'm not entirely sure what to do next. I was planning on sticking with it even after maxing it for the HP growth and utility, but effectively wasting all the Discipline I'm earning is bothering me a lot more than I expected.

 

[Deified Data]

ixix, you should start earning discipline in other classes that have abilities that could complement your main build (Mystic Knight). Put some work into Warrior and Sorcerer. That's what I'd do, anyway.

Not sure what I want to roll for my hard mode playthrough...

 

[Seraphis Cain]

So I got my copy today. Well, my second copy, actually. Beat the game and sold it, then decided to re-buy it due to Hard Mode finally being a thing. I rest at the inn and find that my pawn had been used 14 times since the last time I played, and earned 323,727 RC.

 

[Dresden]

Just started playing this today. Absolutely love the combat and feel of the world.

Anything I should (not) be doing or looking out for? (Just left that first encampment)

Just take it at your own pace, and... remember that if you fail an escort quest and they die, that npc is gone forever. Some of those can be pretty grueling early on, so be careful.

 

[ixix]

The battle at

Spoiler

the Shadow Fort

on hard gave me 400,000 gold. I'm now sitting on a cool 1.2 million with nothing to spend it on. I have yet to sell a single item.

Soon as I hit

Spoiler

the post-game

I'm going on a hell of a shopping spree.

ixix, you should start earning discipline in other classes that have abilities that could complement your main build (Mystic Knight). Put some work into Warrior and Sorcerer. That's what I'd do, anyway.

Not sure what I want to roll for my hard mode playthrough...

I'm leaning toward Sorcerer. I'm a bit loath to give up almost half of my HP growth seeing as how enemies do so much damage, but I've never used a Sorc Arisen before so at least it's novel.

My main pawn this time is a pure Sorcerer too, but whatevs. Room for one more.

 

[Deified Data]

I'm leaning toward Sorcerer. I'm a bit loath to give up almost half of my HP growth seeing as how enemies do so much damage, but I've never used a Sorc Arisen before so at least it's novel.

My main pawn this time is a pure Sorcerer too, but whatevs. Room for one more.

Hah, you could be one of those obsessive-compulsives who switches back to warrior before level up so you can level up Sorcerer via discipline while getting the warrior's HP boost. You'd have to be one hell of a min-maxer though for that kind of commitment.

 

[ixix]

Hah, you could be one of those obsessive-compulsives who switches back to warrior before level up so you can level up Sorcerer via discipline while getting the warrior's HP boost. You'd have to be one hell of a min-maxer though for that kind of commitment.

If I tried to do this I'd never get anything done. One of the things I didn't quite think about until just a bit ago was that the increased gold drops make it possible to have Mountebank create forgeries for you like it weren't no thing. A Blessed Flower doubles your experience as long as it's in your inventory but withers after two days. For 180,000 gold Mountebank can make you a perfect forgery in one day. So I've been keeping him working on forging one for me at all times while I walk around with one in my inventory, and when the one I'm using wilts I saunter on back to the Black Cat and pick up a new set, one of which I immediately give right back to Mountebank to forge again while the other stays in my inventory multiplying my experience. So long as I can afford to shell out 180,000 gold every 48 hours I can have double experience gain in perpetuity, and on hard scraping together that amount of cash every two days isn't really an issue.

On top of that I'm using summoned pawns well below my Arisen's level, which is gaining me an experience boost in addition to the baseline increased experience gained from hard mode. The net result of all this is that every single enemy I kill gets me roughly five or six times the experience that you would get for a normal mode, unmodified kill of that same enemy.

And all of that while putting Mountebank's kids through college. Everybody wins.

 

[toastyToast]

I recently found out that levelling stat bonuses are dependent on the vocation you're using. The min-maxer in me is running amok in my head, so I was wondering; for a potential Ranger, did I screw up by going Strider -> Magick Archer -> Ranger?

I'm at 9 on Strider, 7 on MA and Ranger is on 8. I'm currently level 40 btw

 

[Augemitbutter]

you can't screw up. i maxed almost all classes on my character and never felt weak. equipment makes up for it easily. the player is more important than all of this stuff combined anyway.