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[ironcreed]

Getting around in this game is such a chore. I really wish they had a dedicated fast travel system like Skyrim. Often times I'm traveling far distances and I end up getting stranded in the middle of nowhere with low health and items at night. It's horrible.

Btw, how does the leveling of the pawns work when you're in the rift? Since people can only create one pawn, and that pawn levels with them, does that mean that eventually most pawns that you'll find in the rift will be high level? I'd imagine this will be troublesome for new players down the road.

Unless I'm missing something.

Going on long treks is part of the adventure for me. Makes the world feel more believable.

As for how do pawns level? You pretty much just get a copy of a created pawn and they do not level while they are with you. Only your main pawn does. Once you are done with them and when the owner rests at an inn, it will be as if they returned from helping someone else and will be like they were only gone when the owner rested. Just like it is with your pawn.

 

[Kai Dracon]

Everytime I head out of the city I find myself mentally preparing for some epic adventure. Makes me glad there is no fast travel now. There's just something about fighting by only the glow of your lantern and spell effects too. I find myself wanting night to hit mid-adventure. I find myself having to visit every campfire I see after clearing the surrounding area as if I need to huddle around it for safety and warmth.

Getting around in this game is such a chore. I really wish they had a dedicated fast travel system like Skyrim. Often times I'm traveling far distances and I end up getting stranded in the middle of nowhere with low health and items at night. It's horrible.

LOL it seems this is becoming one of the more contested issues in the game. I'm reminded of the complaints about the Dead Rising save system.

I think I'm coming down on the side of "no fast travel" in the context of this game, explicitly. The correct mentality for playing appears to be considering where you're going to try to go, plan for the worst, and try to wing it when everything goes to hell.

In that sense the design reminds me of classic Resident Evil to a degree with its mentality of venturing out with limited supplies and running the risk of getting trapped somewhere if you over extend yourself. It creates a situation of genuine risk.

 

[Karak]

Going on long treks is part of the adventure for me. Makes the world feel more believable.

As for how do pawns level? You pretty much just get a copy of a created pawn and they do not level while they are with you. Only your main pawn does. Once you are done with them and when the owner rests at an inn, it will be as if they returned from helping someone else and will be like they were only gone when the owner rested. Just like it is with your pawn.

Honestly after playing this for so many hours I have to say one of the reasons my interest in other games have died so quickly was due to fast travel being included. Without it the journey becomes the game. I love not having it myself.

I wish games like this had more options when you start. So you could create your own difficulty.

Do you want fast travel?
Do you want pawns to level with you?

And so on. So you could really create your own game feel.

 

[LProtag]

I think the game does feel challenging at first, especially if you run into some monsters that completely outclass you.

Once you hit level 40-50 though, man, you start to feel like you're a capable adventurer and you start actively looking for trouble. It's an awesome feeling.

 

[Baconsammy]

Going on long treks is part of the adventure for me. Makes the world feel more believable.

As for how do pawns level? You pretty much just get a copy of a created pawn and they do not level while they are with you. Only your main pawn does. Once you are done with them and when the owner rests at an inn, it will be as if they returned from helping someone else and will be like they were only gone when the owner rested. Just like it is with your pawn.

You can go on as many long treks in games with fast travel that you want. What's frustrating me the most is the inept save system. Do one quest and magically it fails you on another major quest, and the only way to recover was to go backwards a few hours of gameplay. Fuck that. I'm giving the game a pass for a lot of stupid game design because I'm still enjoying the combat, but I have a feeling this one's going to end up like Amalur to me where the thrill of the combat wears off and the huge glaring issues dominate to the point where I never want to see it again.

 

[Oni Jazar]

Works perfect to me:

HDMI
Samsumg LED SMART TV 3D
1080i (Minimun tearing)
Motion Plus on Clear (Minimun)
Intermediate
YCbCr

with 1080p tearing
with Motion Plus on Standard or Soft A LOT of tearing

I don't seem to have any of these options with the VGA connection (aside from resolution and range) and the image is super soft/blurry compared to ps3

 

[Femmeworth]

Boob armor, my nemesis. I should have guessed that it would be in this game too.

 

[theDeeDubs]

Ya those are good settings. Sadly this game is really fucking finicky with the settings especially the 360 but once you dial it in you can really increase the image quality a great deal.

I don't have any gripes about the IQ but going to have to check out the differences between standard and intermediate tonight. It doesn't hurt to have it looking its best. I do know expanded crushed my blacks bad though.

 

[Astra]

Crap, I forgot to take a bunch of items I was storing with rented pawns off them before dismissing them. Are the items lost now, or do they just go to my storage?

 

[Eppy Thatcher]

I'm personally loving the way this world feels SO huge because there are no easy outs as far as fast traveling is concerned. You are in a fort somewhere deep past a cliff face path that was difficult to traverse and through some dangerous woods and then in a mountain pass ... it should turn into a button press of a trip simply because you've been there once.

The way the game is set up really makes it mean something when you travel to get somewhere. And then get back as well. You'll never say "Well i just need to pop back to Grand Soren real fast and talk to that guy then i'll fast travel back here with that ingot and get my new sword then travel back to GS and go do the dragon doom death dance mission from the Inn.. "
Every time you go out on a trip you have to actually MAKE the trip. And on every single journey you keep your eyes on the tree line. Just in case.

Hell.. i use Lyncean vision for finding stuff to avoid almost as much as i do for shooting faces.

 

[badgenome]

So are the "Lost and Found" and "Off With It's Head" mutually exclusive?

No, at least not if you do Lost and Found first.

 

[Manmademan]

So are the "Lost and Found" and "Off With It's Head" mutually exclusive?

no. you can take the hydra head to Gran Soren, then backtrack to the first town to take the quest. "Lost and Found" is failed if you take the pawn camp quest (either a matter of myrmidons or Lure of the Abyss, i don't recall which) at Gran Soren before completing lost and found in the witchwood.

 

[Revolutionary]

So what's the deal with enemies attacking each other? I remember the griffon attacking the goblins in the demo, but I haven't seen any of that yet in the full game. I've been attacked by a gang of skeletal warriors, bandits, and wolves, and on another occasion a Cyclops, some harpies, and an army of bandits.

And holy shit I was typing this as the game loaded up and was greeted with the pawns talking their heads off in unison. Here we go again!

 

[Alucrid]

I'm personally loving the way this world feels SO huge because there are no easy outs as far as fast traveling is concerned. You are in a fort somewhere deep past a cliff face path that was difficult to traverse and through some dangerous woods and then in a mountain pass ... it should turn into a button press of a trip simply because you've been there once.

The way the game is set up really makes it mean something when you travel to get somewhere. And then get back as well. You'll never say "Well i just need to pop back to Grand Soren real fast and talk to that guy then i'll fast travel back here with that ingot and get my new sword then travel back to GS and go do the dragon doom death dance mission from the Inn.. "
Every time you go out on a trip you have to actually MAKE the trip. And on every single journey you keep your eyes on the tree line. Just in case.

Hell.. i use Lyncean vision for finding stuff to avoid almost as much as i do for shooting faces.

When I found a place I could sleep out in the wild it was the happiest moment ever. I'm glad there's no fast travel.

I also failed Mercede's first escort quest, anything good happen there?

 

[theDeeDubs]

Do you remember where you picked it up from?

I think it was around the gate area near the well. If not that it was on the notice boards. As soon as I zoned back in to the starting city I remember being greeted by some quest marked npcs.

 

[Diseased Yak]

So i've been hoarding all "materials" (anything that says it could be used to craft stuff) for a while now, but i'm level 21 and still haven't found a way to use these things to craft.

How do I do this, pray tell!?

 

[ced]

So i've been hoarding all "materials" (anything that says it could be used to craft stuff) for a while now, but i'm level 21 and still haven't found a way to use these things to craft.

How do I do this, pray tell!?

I think there is no crafting, only upgrading stuff with materials.

 

[Apeboy]

Speaking of fast travel, there are ferrystones. I haven't bought one yet and not exactly sure how they work but believe you teleport back to Gran Soren when you use it.

 

[Manmademan]

So i've been hoarding all "materials" (anything that says it could be used to craft stuff) for a while now, but i'm level 21 and still haven't found a way to use these things to craft.

How do I do this, pray tell!?

the armorer in gran soren will use them automatically to enhance your equipment (say, taking your daggers from level 1 to level 2 to level 3).

you can also "combine" materials into other things at the inn in Gran Soren as well.

 

[slaughterking]

The lack of fast travel became an issue for me because of the lack of challenges/rewards along the way. Any path or area I've explored pretty much remains 'explored'. Fighting goblins/bandits/wolfs and picking up mushrooms is getting old and while I do enjoy the occasional Chimera or Cyclops fight it's just not enough to keep all this backtracking interesting.
Allowing fast travel between rift stones would have been great, and if you don't want to do it then just don't.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Posted another update to my log.

Spoilers of course
http://www.the-nextlevel.com/tnl/entries/516-Dragon-s-Logma-Volume-4

 

[RPGCrazied]

Might get it tonight, or tomorrow! Really need something else to play along with Diablo 3.

 

[abundant]

I'm fine with no fast travel, but they should have let ferrystones transport you to any Inn in the game. It's so tedious traveling through the mountain pass over and over, always fighting the same goblins, bandits, wolves, and harpies in the same place they always respawn.

 

[whalleywhat]

LOL it seems this is becoming one of the more contested issues in the game. I'm reminded of the complaints about the Dead Rising save system.

I think I'm coming down on the side of "no fast travel" in the context of this game, explicitly. The correct mentality for playing appears to be considering where you're going to try to go, plan for the worst, and try to wing it when everything goes to hell.

In that sense the design reminds me of classic Resident Evil to a degree with its mentality of venturing out with limited supplies and running the risk of getting trapped somewhere if you over extend yourself. It creates a situation of genuine risk.

It's sort of a debate that's been going on for a while about Bethesda games. Morrowind let you connect between cities with Silt Striders, but a lot of the time getting somewhere was a protracted journey, plagued by frequent bouts of Cliff Racer. Sometimes you'd get stuck somewhere without a lot of supplies and have to work hard at surviving, and that was awesome. I'd love to play through Skyrim without fast travel, but, like Oblivion, the quests are designed with you being able to hop all over the map in mind.

I think the lack of fast travel is one of the best things about Dragon's Dogma. Gran Soren is your hub, and you journey forth from it. In addition, you need to journey back, and the two are often quite different given random encounters and the day/night cycle.

 

[Karak]

I don't have any gripes about the IQ but going to have to check out the differences between standard and intermediate tonight. It doesn't hurt to have it looking its best. I do know expanded crushed my blacks bad though.

I agree.
Ya expanded is bugged. In that link I posted they walk you through the issues. I agree that even if someone is happy with the 360 versions look, they should check the settings. Especially that god damned RGB setting. Arg! I think because of some of the posted pics people expect the game to just look that unclear. Then when they mess with the settings there is an "oh my" moment.

I don't seem to have any of these options with the VGA connection (aside from resolution and range) and the image is super soft/blurry compared to ps3

360? Make sure autodetect for display is OFF in the system settings. If it is ON it takes many options away. Turn it off then the options should appear under the color reference tab as well as the HDMI tab.

 

[Delio]

Ah the fun of braving a night out in the wilds then running into a Ogre. Then finally running along a hillside and seeing a Chimera and actually running at it just for the rewards lol.

One monster is alluding me and it's a darn Griffin. I've fought it twice but it's flew away every time.

 

[RiderKairuu]

That fortress siege quest for Maximilian was nuts! Too much going on and clops everywhere.

 

[LProtag]

I wouldn't mind if the sequel had fast travel be a little more frequent than the rather expensive form we have now.

But only if the sequel were much larger and you could only fast travel to and from the 2-3 cities in the game.

As it stands now, if the game were much larger, I'd start getting tired of all the trekking back and forth. This game has a good size though.

 

[ironcreed]

You can go on as many long treks in games with fast travel that you want. What's frustrating me the most is the inept save system. Do one quest and magically it fails you on another major quest, and the only way to recover was to go backwards a few hours of gameplay. Fuck that. I'm giving the game a pass for a lot of stupid game design because I'm still enjoying the combat, but I have a feeling this one's going to end up like Amalur to me where the thrill of the combat wears off and the huge glaring issues dominate to the point where I never want to see it again.

Only quest I have failed so far was picking flowers in Cassardis. *shrugs* As for everything else, it has far more going for it good for me than bad. My only real issue thus far is the camera in tight spots. But it is infrequent enough that I am not bothered by it.

Overall, the game has so much attention to little details, such varied and fun gameplay, adequate challenge and sense of adventure, great pacing and growth, epic encounters and plenty of 'holy shit' moments, and I even love the look and overall atmosphere of the world. Can't ask for more, personally.

 

[lsslave]

The lack of fast travel became an issue for me because of the lack of challenges/rewards along the way. Any path or area I've explored pretty much remains 'explored'. Fighting goblins/bandits/wolfs and picking up mushrooms is getting old and while I do enjoy the occasional Chimera or Cyclops fight it's just not enough to keep all this backtracking interesting.
Allowing fast travel between rift stones would have been great, and if you don't want to do it then just don't.

You're one of those who is more about the destination than the journey (not that there is anything wrong with that either)

Also some people have a lack of willpower over anything like that. I don't use fast travel in Skyrim though, makes the world so much tinier

 

[Karak]

I'm fine with no fast travel, but they should have let ferrystones transport you to any Inn in the game. It's so tedious traveling through the mountain pass over and over, always fighting the same goblins, bandits, wolves, and harpies in the same place they always respawn.

I agree with this. A tiny bit more flexibility would add some ease of tedium for those who want to use it and yet still make most of the journey required.

 

[VashTS]

One monster is alluding me and it's a darn Griffin. I've fought it twice but it's flew away every time.

Sadly the griffin doesn't take damage until you get to a certain mission.

 

[Wind's Howling]

Going to pick this up again tonight. Stopped at Level 20 in Gran Soren and I completely forgot that I could use vocations on my main pawn as well. What an idiot I am. Did this happen with anyone else?

 

[theDeeDubs]

The nice thing about not having fast travel is it makes you weigh the consequences of all your actions. I know you could artificially limit yourself from doing it, but the removal of the option adds to to sense of survival and tension and ultimately the payoff feeling at the end of a successful journey when you reach the intended destination. When we finally made it to the gates of Gran Soren doing The Courier, I remember this huge sigh of relief when I was basked with the torchlights. And that was just in the first couple of hours in the game. I'll take that feeling over convenience any day.

 

[Cth]

Worth buying the guidebook? I just feel so overwhelmed (just left the camp after heading there from Cassardia. After resting, had to battle

Spoiler

the Hydra

).

I'd say so.

Quests are listed alphabetically, as are areas. It lists times and locations of roaming NPCs, recipe mixtures, locations of rare items and items needed to upgrade equipment, etc

 

[creid]

So i've been hoarding all "materials" (anything that says it could be used to craft stuff) for a while now, but i'm level 21 and still haven't found a way to use these things to craft.

How do I do this, pray tell!?

Select an item in the inventory screen and hit "combine." Should've been available from the start of the game.

you can also "combine" materials into other things at the inn in Gran Soren as well.

You only need to do this to combine things that you've stored away.

 

[ironcreed]

I agree with this. A tiny bit more flexibility would add some ease of tedium for those who want to use it and yet still make most of the journey required.

That's fair and I agree. I am fine with roaming around well-trodden roads, as I think it just adds to the sense of being on an adventure. But I do understand how some get tired of fighting the same mobs in the same spots. I just look at it as getting quick little dabs of extra exp along the way.

 

[slaughterking]

You're one of those who is more about the destination than the journey (not that there is anything wrong with that either)

Also some people have a lack of willpower over anything like that. I don't use fast travel in Skyrim though, makes the world so much tinier

No, I'm not. I just don't like to do the same journey over and over again.

 

[abundant]

Sadly the griffin doesn't take damage until you get to a certain mission.

No, random griffins show up before you do that mission. They almost always fly away unless you constantly keep it grounded. I've fought 3 of them randomly and I've only defeated one of them.

 

[The_Hitcher89]

[stealth capcom market researcher]How much would you be willing to pay for fast-travel dlc?

a)$2
b)$5
c)$10
d)More than $10[/stealth capcom market researcher]

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

I just rush past everything I don't want to fight. *shrug*

 

[abundant]

I just rush past everything I don't want to fight. *shrug*

I do this every time I enter the forest where the drake lives. I'm not attempting that fight until level 50.

 

[Vamphuntr]

The Bersek items are so expensive :S 50k for the armor and something like 30K for the Cloak, ouch!

 

[Auto_aim1]

The only thing that annoys me is when my stamina runs out and I get hacked to death by some random bandit. It's infuriating when I forget to save and have to redo some stuff again due to this. But the good thing is, I'm so addicted to this game right now. So good.

 

[Kai Dracon]

Question: is there a way to view your main pawn's behavioral stats after you've created it? The degree they rank in each tendency?

 

[Karak]

That's fair and I agree. I am fine with roaming around well-trodden roads, as I think it just adds to the sense of being on an adventure. But I do understand how some get tired of fighting the same mobs in the same spots. I just look at it as getting quick little dabs of extra exp along the way.

Ya it doesn't bother me in the slightest either but I think games are becoming complex enough that their should be more settings available such as that. However it would royally mess up the ability to get achievements and trophies as some have to do with particular things that if 2 people had the game at the same time 1 using quick travel would have an advantage. Maybe thats why more options aren't like this in games.

I would love to hit the "Game" option in most games and be flooded with options to really curve the experience my way. Someday perhaps.

 

[ironcreed]

I do this every time I enter the forest where the drake lives. I'm not attempting that fight until level 50.

Does anyone else get the feeling of, "God I hope that he does not see me" every time you go down the path where you can see him through the trees walking around over in Devilfire Grove? I sure do, lol. But I am going to save my game right before that point tonight and try to get a get good look at him before he kills me. I know at my paltry level 26 I am going to get squashed, but I want to bask in the glory of his destruction before I come back later when I am actually able to tackle him.

 

[Alucrid]

The Bersek items are so expensive :S 50k for the armor and something like 30K for the Cloak, ouch!

I have like..half a million without selling anything.

 

[Diseased Yak]

Select an item in the inventory screen and hit "combine." Should've been available from the start of the game.


You only need to do this to combine things that you've stored away.

Thanks all, I've been combining stuff and "enhancing" my weapons/armor some, but thought there was more to it than that.

 

[Dommel]

I just discovered

Spoiler

a mountable crossbow turret overlooking a valley with 2 ogres in it

.

Before that I ran into a

Spoiler

huge glowing rock creature which was shooting exploding bullets.

Best
Game
Ever