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Dragon's Dogma |OT| For the night is dark and full of terrors

Arcteryx

Member
so this save thing - you can't have one save slot for a mage and another save slot for a strider?

You gotta respec and change your vocation or delete your many hours save file and start over?

No. You just back them up to USB or have another account(who doesn't?). It's an annoyance, but ultimately not a huge deal.

I think they figure that people are going to be switching classes up enough(trying to setup stats perfectly) that they won't mind being tied down to one account.
 

Sword Familiar

178% of NeoGAF posters don't understand statistics
I think the real deal with not being able to create more characters on one account is the fact that you could easily trade items with yourself by only hiring your own pawns (not to mention only using your own pawns in your team, although that would require you to level them up separately).

This could theoretically still be done by creating multiple accounts, but I think they figured most players won't think it'll be worth it (and they're probably right).

Still, I can see some people making "power pawns" this way late game just to have more control over their teams.
 
I've got like 7 accounts, so part of this doesn't bother me at all.

What does bug me is the inherent dangers of only having one save. I'm fine with backing it up, but it seems like an unnecessary extra step.
 

Arcteryx

Member
I think the real deal with not being able to create more characters on one account is the fact that you could easily trade items with yourself by only hiring your own pawns (not to mention only using your own pawns in your team, although that would require you to level them up separately).

This could theoretically still be done by creating multiple accounts, but I think they figured most players won't think it'll be worth it (and they're probably right).

Still, I can see some people making "power pawns" this way late game just to have more control over their teams.

It's still going to be pretty easy to dupe stuff(like GT5).
Step 1: back up save
Step 2: transfer weapons to other account
Step 3: overwrite with old save, weapons on both accounts now

And yea, I imagine some people will be doing as you said for late game. Makes the most sense, as you'll have complete control over your pawn setup.
 

Rubikant

Member
so this save thing - you can't have one save slot for a mage and another save slot for a strider?

You gotta respec and change your vocation or delete your many hours save file and start over?

Its hardly a "respec" though - your vocation is like a job from Final Fanstasy Tactics, you are expected to switch them frequently and are rewarded for doing so. Each vocation has a "rank" (1-10) that is retained when you switch between them (so if you are a Rank 8 Fighter and switch to a Mage, you'll be a Rank 1 Mage but can always switch back to being a Rank 8 Fighter). Your overall level and exp don't change when you switch vocations though, so if you are level 30 and change vocations you are still level 30 and thus still have a lot more HP, Strength, Magic, etc. than a level 1.

Part of the motivation for switching is that many skills can crossover between classes that share the same weapon type, and there are also passive "Augments" which you can use on any vocation once they are learned. For example, you may want to get an Augment from a Strider that increases your stamina and then use it while you are a Mage. Although still quite viable, a player that switches Vocations and mixes and matches Augments is likely to be better off than one that just sticks to a single vocation for the entire game.

I agree one save is stupid as hell, but just wanted to clarify that switching vocations isn't something you should feel you need a different save for.
 

Wanny

Member
So Diablo 3 is a fucking failure. Time to get excited back for dragon's dogma! I just hope it doesn't get crushed in reviews...
 

ironcreed

Banned
So Diablo 3 is a fucking failure. Time to get excited back for dragon's dogma! I just hope it doesn't get crushed in reviews...

It has a couple of odd-men-out reviews, but is doing pretty solid so far. Also, I would advise those who just look at the scores to read some of the better reviews and look beyond the number. The game will have some rough edges, but has some very compelling things going on beneath the surface.
 

ironcreed

Banned
He posted a lot of videos that spoiled much of the game (which I avoided to see), he's telling us to expect more? Heh.

Yes, he is basically saying that you will be more than surprised, as well as pleased to see how Capcom handled the ending. He put in nearly 60 hours before getting to the end and said that just when you think it is over is when it will really grab you by the balls. As it will be far from over after the credits roll. From all the talk, we are in for a pretty neat surprise.

In other words, Capcom is not scamming us with this one. Any DLC will just be more on top of an already packed experience. Sounds good to me.
 

Rubikant

Member
Anyone know if having less pawns = more exp.?

At least in the demo, yes. In fact it works in a kind of odd way.

Enemy XP is based on the assumption that you have a full party. You can tell because they are nice even numbers, like 100 or 150 or whatever.

For every Pawn you do NOT have, you get a 20% bonus to XP gained, but its multiplied for each new pawn. So, its not 160% bonus when you are solo, its actually 172.8% bonus (1.2 x 1.2 x 1.2).

Also, we now know that the last Augment an Assassin gets is a huge bonus to attack and defense but only if they are solo.

I think this is evidence enough that the game clearly supports players that want to try going it alone.
 
Its hardly a "respec" though - your vocation is like a job from Final Fanstasy Tactics, you are expected to switch them frequently and are rewarded for doing so. Each vocation has a "rank" (1-10) that is retained when you switch between them (so if you are a Rank 8 Fighter and switch to a Mage, you'll be a Rank 1 Mage but can always switch back to being a Rank 8 Fighter). Your overall level and exp don't change when you switch vocations though, so if you are level 30 and change vocations you are still level 30 and thus still have a lot more HP, Strength, Magic, etc. than a level 1.

Part of the motivation for switching is that many skills can crossover between classes that share the same weapon type, and there are also passive "Augments" which you can use on any vocation once they are learned. For example, you may want to get an Augment from a Strider that increases your stamina and then use it while you are a Mage. Although still quite viable, a player that switches Vocations and mixes and matches Augments is likely to be better off than one that just sticks to a single vocation for the entire game.

I agree one save is stupid as hell, but just wanted to clarify that switching vocations isn't something you should feel you need a different save for.

Some good info in here that I never knew. Thanks!
 

Unity2012

Member
From GI Review: Dragon’s Dogma is an unconventional game for Capcom, and action/RPGs in general. Combat feels like a necessary part of the game’s design, rather than something that was begrudgingly added to provide interaction between cutscenes. I left the game feeling that I made my mark on Gransys the way I chose to, instead of being escorted from plot point to plot point. When you’re talking about an open-world game, I can’t think of higher praise.

Ummmm, I really like the sound of that. Tuesday cannot come any faster.
 

sublimit

Banned
I really envy the people who'll get the game soon after the 22nd.I'll probably have to wait until the 1st of June to get it...:/
 

Anteater

Member
I really envy the people who'll get the game soon after the 22nd.I'll probably have to wait until the 1st of June to get it...:/

On the bright side you get to read gaffer's opinons on the game and not just the first 5hrs or something! Hopefully there won't be too much spoilers
KuGsj.gif
 

Pie and Beans

Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
I need this game the wait is killing all other games in comparison. Nothing is fulfilling me in any way since the demo.

Worse still the 25th date being a bit behind everyone else. And that I'm also super busy on the 26th weekend and the week afterwards :/
 

LProtag

Member
So to give people a bigger idea of how varied the equipment is, I've went through the guide and looked at a few things.

For weapons, there's 9-20 of each different kind. Swords and daggers are on the high side whereas bows are on the lower side. Weapons can cause different debilitations, but there are only a few of these. It's pretty limited to rusted weapons causing poison and gold weapons causing silence after you upgrade them a few times. Weapons can have built in elemental properties, and these kind of weapons also add to your magick stat even if that weapon type normally wouldn't. For instance, daggers only give +strength, but an elemental dagger will give +strength and +magick. Sounds good for vocations like Mystic Knight and Magick Archer.

There's a lot of armor. I'd say around 70-90 types of each armor sounds about right. Less so with jewelery and capes (though there's still like 50 capes or so). Armor gives defense, but also elemental and debilitation resistance (or weakness). It looks like it's mostly by a case by case basis as to what each vocation can equip, though there do seem to be some patterns. Certain pieces of armor give small benefits to vitality, stamina, strength and magick as well. When you upgrade armor it increases its defense and resistances, but also lessens weaknesses as well as decreases its weight.

So it's not a massive loot fest like Diablo or Skyrim. Instead it looks like you'll be upgrading less often but seeing bigger changes in the stats of your equipment, more so with weapons than armor.
 

Mike M

Nick N
Last I checked, my local game store was wanting me to write a review for this, so I'm kinda pumped to get it for free on Monday : )

Downside is I'll only get four weeks to get the review done : (
 

abundant

Member
Its hardly a "respec" though - your vocation is like a job from Final Fanstasy Tactics, you are expected to switch them frequently and are rewarded for doing so. Each vocation has a "rank" (1-10) that is retained when you switch between them (so if you are a Rank 8 Fighter and switch to a Mage, you'll be a Rank 1 Mage but can always switch back to being a Rank 8 Fighter). Your overall level and exp don't change when you switch vocations though, so if you are level 30 and change vocations you are still level 30 and thus still have a lot more HP, Strength, Magic, etc. than a level 1.

Part of the motivation for switching is that many skills can crossover between classes that share the same weapon type, and there are also passive "Augments" which you can use on any vocation once they are learned. For example, you may want to get an Augment from a Strider that increases your stamina and then use it while you are a Mage. Although still quite viable, a player that switches Vocations and mixes and matches Augments is likely to be better off than one that just sticks to a single vocation for the entire game.

I agree one save is stupid as hell, but just wanted to clarify that switching vocations isn't something you should feel you need a different save for.

Another advantage changing vocations bring is that each one has a different stat bonus when your character levels up. Here's the breakdown up to level 100 :

HP = health, Stam = stamina, MD = Magick Defense, Def = Defense, MA = Magick Attack, Atk = Attack (Strength)

Levels 1-10:

Fighter: HP+30 Stam+20 Atk+4 Def+3 MA+2 MD+2
Strider: HP+25 Stam+25 Atk+3 Def+3 MA+3 MD+2
Mage: HP+22 Stam+20 Atk+2 Def+3 MA+4 MD+3

Levels 10-100:

Fighter: HP+37 Stam+15 Atk+4 Def+4 MA+2 MD+1
Warrior: HP+40 Stam+20 Atk+5 Def+3 MA+2 MD+1
Mystic Knight: HP+30 Stam+20 Atk+2 Def+3 MA+3 MD+3
Strider: HP+25 Stam+25 Atk+3 Def+3 MA+3 MD+2
Ranger: HP+21 Stam+30 Atk+4 Def+2 MA+3 MD+2
Assassin: HP+22 Stam+27 Atk+6 Def+2 MA+2 MD+1
Mage: HP+21 Stam+10 Atk+2 Def+1 MA+4 MD+4
Sorcerer: HP+16 Stam+15 Atk+2 Def+1 MA+5 MD+5
Magic Archer: HP+20 Stam+20 Atk+2 Def+3 MA+3 MD+4
 
So to give people a bigger idea of how varied the equipment is, I've went through the guide and looked at a few things.

For weapons, there's 9-20 of each different kind. Swords and daggers are on the high side whereas bows are on the lower side. Weapons can cause different debilitations, but there are only a few of these. It's pretty limited to rusted weapons causing poison and gold weapons causing silence after you upgrade them a few times. Weapons can have built in elemental properties, and these kind of weapons also add to your magick stat even if that weapon type normally wouldn't. For instance, daggers only give +strength, but an elemental dagger will give +strength and +magick. Sounds good for vocations like Mystic Knight and Magick Archer.

There's a lot of armor. I'd say around 70-90 types of each armor sounds about right. Less so with jewelery and capes (though there's still like 50 capes or so). Armor gives defense, but also elemental and debilitation resistance (or weakness). It looks like it's mostly by a case by case basis as to what each vocation can equip, though there do seem to be some patterns. Certain pieces of armor give small benefits to vitality, stamina, strength and magick as well. When you upgrade armor it increases its defense and resistances, but also lessens weaknesses as well as decreases its weight.

So it's not a massive loot fest like Diablo or Skyrim. Instead it looks like you'll be upgrading less often but seeing bigger changes in the stats of your equipment, more so with weapons than armor.

That's cool, it's like the armor and weapons have their own progression trees. I'll probably be crafting multiples of what I can manage so that I can experiment with them in the field.
 

LProtag

Member
That's cool, it's like the armor and weapons have their own progression trees. I'll probably be crafting multiples of what I can manage so that I can experiment with them in the field.

Er, it's not exactly that. You can upgrade a weapon but it stays the same weapon and doesn't gain any new elemental damage or anything. Each weapon has 4 levels of upgrade, which just increases stats or resistance and reduces weight.

Very few gain a debilitation after you've upgraded them 2-3 times.
 

abundant

Member
That's cool, it's like the armor and weapons have their own progression trees. I'll probably be crafting multiples of what I can manage so that I can experiment with them in the field.

There's no crafting of armor or weapons and the upgrade system isn't that deep, just 3 or 4 upgrades per equipment.
 

Oichi

I'm like a Hadouken, down-right Fierce!

Screenshot from Gran Soren, just messing around and causing havoc in the city, heh.

Just FYI if you didn't know, the game has a screenshot function built-in (both systems IIRC) so you can pause the game and take a still. :D You can then post it to facebook or twitter if you like.
 
Another advantage changing vocations bring is that each one has a different stat bonus when your character levels up. Here's the breakdown up to level 100 :

HP = health, Stam = stamina, MD = Magick Defense, Def = Defense, MA = Magick Attack, Atk = Attack (Strength)

Levels 1-10:

Fighter: HP+30 Stam+20 Atk+4 Def+3 MA+2 MD+2
Strider: HP+25 Stam+25 Atk+3 Def+3 MA+3 MD+2
Mage: HP+22 Stam+20 Atk+2 Def+3 MA+4 MD+3

Levels 10-100:

Fighter: HP+37 Stam+15 Atk+4 Def+4 MA+2 MD+1
Warrior: HP+40 Stam+20 Atk+5 Def+3 MA+2 MD+1
Mystic Knight: HP+30 Stam+20 Atk+2 Def+3 MA+3 MD+3
Strider: HP+25 Stam+25 Atk+3 Def+3 MA+3 MD+2
Ranger: HP+21 Stam+30 Atk+4 Def+2 MA+3 MD+2
Assassin: HP+22 Stam+27 Atk+6 Def+2 MA+2 MD+1
Mage: HP+21 Stam+10 Atk+2 Def+1 MA+4 MD+4
Sorcerer: HP+16 Stam+15 Atk+2 Def+1 MA+5 MD+5
Magic Archer: HP+20 Stam+20 Atk+2 Def+3 MA+3 MD+4

That's not as bad as I thought when I first heard about it. At least all classes get stat boosts to everything and it's reasonably fixed per level. As long as I keep a note of it it should be fairly easy to identify which class would be better if I feel I'm lagging somewhere and need to focus on it.
 

sublimit

Banned
Screenshot from Gran Soren, just messing around and causing havoc in the city, heh.

Just FYI if you didn't know, the game has a screenshot function built-in (both systems IIRC) so you can pause the game and take a still. :D You can then post it to facebook or twitter if you like.

I was wondering if we should make another thread just for screenshots?that way the OT will also stay more spoiler free.
 
From the stream (had to check because I don't trust them
KuGsj.gif
)

They said it's not DLC, it's available in the game, and you do a quest sequence to unlock it but it's not DLC content you need to pay for and you get it from just playing the game.

OK nice then i won't have to bother with dlc for one of these things
 
Screenshot from Gran Soren, just messing around and causing havoc in the city, heh.

Just FYI if you didn't know, the game has a screenshot function built-in (both systems IIRC) so you can pause the game and take a still. :D You can then post it to facebook or twitter if you like.

Nice!
 
Am I the only one who is generally against respec'ing?

Don't get me wrong, it's like fast travel. I'm glad it's there for the people who enjoy that sort of thing, but when I choose a class at the beginning of the game I feel like I should commit to it. I feel like experiencing the feel of every class in one playthrough would seriously cut back on replay value for me.

In a game like DD, I think I'd depend a lot more on making smart Pawn choices over constantly switching my class for any given situation, but perhaps this is the wrong way to look at this game. I understand that a truly optimized character will have had to level up as different classes. Who knows, maybe it'll feel more natural to me in this game than in a game like Kingdoms of Amalur.

I guess this isn't technically respec'ing so much as changing your "job" ala Tactics, but you get the idea. It would feel weird to me to have a Fighter who occasionally becomes a Sorcerer.
 

Wallachia

Member
Screenshot from Gran Soren, just messing around and causing havoc in the city, heh.

Just FYI if you didn't know, the game has a screenshot function built-in (both systems IIRC) so you can pause the game and take a still. :D You can then post it to facebook or twitter if you like.

So, what is with the letterbox? Why did they do that? Any way to turn off?

Btw, got the full game yesterday, spent and hour or 2 last nite. I love it. I'm very impressed with the way you can create the look of your character, even scars, and how the character looks in the opening cut scene. It really makes the game feel personal to me. And the first wandering into the woods at night.. awesome.. foreboding. And this is just the beginning :)
 

sublimit

Banned
Am I the only one who is generally against respec'ing?

Don't get me wrong, it's like fast travel. I'm glad it's there for the people who enjoy that sort of thing, but when I choose a class at the beginning of the game I feel like I should commit to it. I feel like experiencing the feel of every class in one playthrough would seriously cut back on replay value for me.

In a game like DD, I think I'd depend a lot more on making smart Pawn choices over constantly switching my class for any given situation, but perhaps this is the wrong way to look at this game. I understand that a truly optimized character will have had to level up as different classes. Who knows, maybe it'll feel more natural to me in this game than in a game like Kingdoms of Amalur.

I guess this isn't technically respec'ing so much as changing your "job" ala Tactics, but you get the idea. It would feel weird to me to have a Fighter who occasionally becomes a Sorcerer.

Yeah i'm also going to stick with one class for each playthrough.The advanced and hybrid classes will offer enough variety.
 
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