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

ironcreed

Banned
This game needs more exposure. I hope it does well considering Diablo was released a week before it. I need more people to 1 star my pawn... :(

Yeah, the game does a great job of showing off the other skills via support pawns. I roll with two mages and I see all kinds of crazy ass spells that I'd like to try. Problem so far with that big bow though is I found I'm a lot slower then when I was a strider. For one skill I can't even move.

All of the stamina augments I picked up from being a Strider might mitigate it some. There will always be some trade-off, though. That is what is going to make it so fresh eventually playing and mastering all vocations. Just incredible replay value here in terms of the vocations, items and overall content. If word of mouth needed to carry any game to success, this is the one.
 

ironcreed

Banned
Perfect shot, Mylene. I love it.

jM00m.jpg
 

1stStrike

Banned
Was wondering about that. If you have to travel everywhere on foot are there at least random events that take place to make it interesting or just small patches of enemies always around with the odd large beast showing up?

There was a reason why quick travel was added in Elder Scroll series, kept in the new Fallout games and new games like Xenoblade and why players in JRPGs look forward to getting the airship. Forced land travel has to be made worthwhile. Otherwise it's just random battles just presented differently.

There's definitely random events that take place - like having to save a captured person, or randomly being ambushed. For example, last night I was meandering around at night and a quest pops up. "Survive the ambush." I was like "What ambush?" and then I shoot a gleaming arrow into the darkness and see about a dozen goblins followed by a drake swooping down from the air above me. I was just like "Oh fuck."

Fighting the drake at night was pretty exciting - turned a mundane task into 45 minutes of me fighting the drake in the darkness and then, once day light came, trying to fight against all of his attacks while he shit talked me in dragon-speak :p

Anyone have some starting tips? I'm a strider and have arrived in Gran Soren. I like a good challenge but there's this giant/troll whatever that requires too many hits to take down. Should I just call in as many pawns as I can?

Stick with Strider and max it out before progressing to anything else. That's my opinion. You'll be much better off with it at rank 10. Also, I use my pawn for tanking and have a sorcerer and a mage for DPS/healing in my party. I recommend trying something like that to see how it works out for you.

Cyclops and other larger enemies will take a while to kill in the beginning - you're simply a low level and need better equipment. Just keep at it and don't be discouraged if a fight takes a long time to complete.
 
i did my first quest of escoring this dude to the middle of the map. so in my travels, i'm almost to the destination and there's basically a fucking dragon blocking my path but he doesn't see me yet. i tried to fight him a couple times and he has like 8 life bars so i said fuck this.

i tried to go ALL the way around, hoping to maybe circle back and come in through the back. on my way to do that, i found a fountain that restored all health and boosted up lost health, i found a bunch of goblins to fight and after i finished them i kept going and saw TWO cyclops just wailing on a bunch of goblins. there are also goblins on the cliff bombarding the cyclops with an arrow turret thing.

i get past the cyclops, kill the douchebags with the turrets, and proceed to obliterate both cyclops from afar... both gave like 3500 exp! it was pretty sweet because you could load in exploding arrows as well.

anyways, i found that there is no back way to the destination, headed back and just ran and the dragon never saw us. NOW, i'm trying to get back to the castle but the dragon is there and wont leave me alone. i need a transport stone or something :(
 
Guys, what's a good personality for a sorc? Mine is Scather, Utilitarian.

The strength is that she is good with spell selection and tries attacks to relentlessly.


The bad thing is that she gets too close to the enemies and is constantly canceling spells that take a while to cast. I'm still trying to tweak her personality for long ranged fighting.

I just don't wanna suit her up with those attack barrier spells, necromancy, the closed ranged stuff.
 

1stStrike

Banned
Oh man, I fucking hate maelstrom. Was just fighting a golem and it took forever because this sorcerer in my party was just spamming maelstrom over and over and it wasn't doing god damn thing to the golem. However, it was blinding the fuck out of me as when you're inside the tornado the entire screen just goes black. It is so infuriating to be setting up an attack and to have it foiled over and over by my own AI partner.
 
Oh man, I fucking hate maelstrom. Was just fighting a golem and it took forever because this sorcerer in my party was just spamming maelstrom over and over and it wasn't doing god damn thing to the golem. However, it was blinding the fuck out of me as when you're inside the tornado the entire screen just goes black. It is so infuriating to be setting up an attack and to have it foiled over and over by my own AI partner.

It doesn't seem to have any effect on enemies where you need to hit individual parts. It literally does just get in the way. otoh, I saw it wipe out two and a half bars of chimera health in one go.

Arcteryx said:
Yea, hopefully if they make a sequel they give more control over AI casting.

Well, ideally, if they have three stars of experience with that enemy, they won't use ineffective spells on it. That's why it's good for your pawn to get hired out and to use those training scrolls. The enemy I was having this trouble with was on my first encounter, and noone in my party seemed to have a clue.
 

Arcteryx

Member
Oh man, I fucking hate maelstrom. Was just fighting a golem and it took forever because this sorcerer in my party was just spamming maelstrom over and over and it wasn't doing god damn thing to the golem. However, it was blinding the fuck out of me as when you're inside the tornado the entire screen just goes black. It is so infuriating to be setting up an attack and to have it foiled over and over by my own AI partner.

Yea, hopefully if they make a sequel they give more control over AI casting. I'd LOVE for an option to select what type of enchant I want from my pawn.

Also, if anyone wants my female pawn settings to use/use as a base:
Brunette Pawn:
hair 16
color dark brown
face 40
size middle
eyes 20
vertical all down
spacing all narrow
size middle
color grey
brow 31
vertical +1middle
spacing -1 middle
nose 6
vertical -1 middle
size middle
mouth 31
vertical +1 middle
ears 5
vertical -1 middle
position +1 middle
stature middle
weight middle
skin 3 from left
muscle skinny all
bust middle
torso 1
arms 9
legs 8
stance middle
makeup 12(light blue teal)

Blonde Pawn:
Hair 27
Color 2nd bottom left
Face 8
Size +1 middle
Eyes 20
Vertical middle
Spacing +1 narrow
Size middle
Color grey
Brow 18
Vertical +1 middle
Spacing middle
color dark brown
nose 23
vertical -1 middle
size middle
mouth 31
vertical middle
ears 2
vertical middle
position forward
stature +1 middle tall
weight middle
build skinny
bust middle
torso 10
arms 9
legs 8
makeup 12 (light blue teal)
 

LuchaShaq

Banned
Just started and am digging it but have a few REALLY big issues.

1. Why the hell don't my pawns heal themselves above 50% even when I put tons of healing stuff in their inventory? Really great for all 3 pawns to die immediately in an easyish fight just because they refuse to heal up before battle.

2. Why after gathering the herbs for a quest it just randomly fails after delivering the hydra head with no notification/warning?

3. Why can't I choose what weapon chant the 2 casters in my party give me? Really great when they give me the wrong enchant and I do zero damage because of it...
 
Just popping in the game for the first time. Quick question though: Is any of the DLC worth it? Already redeemed my weapon pack code from Amazon.
 
It doesn't seem to have any effect on enemies where you need to hit individual parts. It literally does just get in the way. otoh, I saw it wipe out two and a half bars of chimera health in one go.

Oh yeah, it's very effective against chimeras. Which reminds me of another pic I took:


I only kept it because I thought it was funny how the snake tail flew off.
 
Yeah, the inability to tell a pawn to stop casting something that isn't working is pretty lame. They're your pawn, you should have some control over them in battle. One of my pawns was yelling over and over to use fire, and the other pawn that had the ability kept using ice. Derp. Hopefully there will be a sequel and a lot of these things will be better thought-out. When this game is great it's a 10, but man when it's bad it's really bad. I assume the people that gave it really low scores didn't bother to look for the good or they felt the bad far outweighs the good (it doesnt).
 
I kinda wanted to make a post about this but I'm not sure if there's enough meat to it for much discussion.


But food for thought...


Japan sucks at making games™. The four best RPGs this gen are Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Nier and Dragon's Dogma.





Heh.


I liked Skyrim. I liked Amalur. I loved ME2 (I refuse to sully it with ME3). There's been plenty of great western RPGs. But for my money, the top stuff still comes out of japan. Heck, I think i would put FFXIII-2 over everything I mentioned in this paragraph.
 
Awwww man, people on 360 are using save state editors to end up gettin infinite health and hundreds of levels so that they can get favourable odds on the Ur Dragon :(
 

Snuggles

erotic butter maelstrom
Japan sucks at making games™. The four best RPGs this gen are Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Nier and Dragon's Dogma.

They even beat us Westerners at the whole third person shooter thing with Vanquish. Still need to play Nier, though, it's been sitting on my shelf unplayed for almost a year now.

Anyways, I was going to try to go out and do stuff today, but fuck it - today is all about Dragons Dogma (and GoT later...).
 

1stStrike

Banned
Awwww man, people on 360 are using save state editors to end up gettin infinite health and hundreds of levels so that they can get favourable odds on the Ur Dragon :(

Yeah, that's retarded. We're legit on PS3. If I recall correctly nobody has beaten it yet on our side of things.

They even beat us Westerners at the whole third person shooter thing with Vanquish. Still need to play Nier, though, it's been sitting on my shelf unplayed for almost a year now.

Anyways, I was going to try to go out and do stuff today, but fuck it - today is all about Dragons Dogma (and GoT later...).

It saddens me that you haven't played Nier yet. You should play that asap once you finish Dragon's Dogma. Really fantastic game.
 

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
I kinda wanted to make a post about this but I'm not sure if there's enough meat to it for much discussion.


But food for thought...


Japan sucks at making games™. The four best RPGs this gen are Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Nier and Dragon's Dogma.

The degree to which Japan 'sucks' this gen is a meme. I think it spread partially because frankly western gamers are only familiar by name with a few of the biggest Japanese franchises like Final Fantasy. And it's true that certain Japanese series had trouble.

But it's like, thanks to Square falling off a cliff with FFXIII, people said "welp that's it for Japan, don't they just make Final Fantasy?"

Japan HAS been making good games this gen, but they've mostly been invisible to the mainstream. Or reviewed poorly by western publications due to very real biases that have, by and large, been swept under the rug.

We were lucky in a sense, that Demon's Souls got the credit it deserved and some exposure. It single handedly forced a lot of westerners to sit up and pay attention to what was coming out of Japan.
 

Anteater

Member
I wouldn't say Nier belong to the same category as Vanquish and DD, praise mainly comes from the story/characters side, but it wasn't really a bad game either, I had fun with it.

You could edit saves without modding the console on 360?
 

ironcreed

Banned
assholes, rating my pawn 3 stars for appearance and 4 stars everything else

my pawn looks good.

I am getting about the same kind of ratings for my pawn. She looks great and has become a fine Warrior at only level 32. I am thinking it's the DLC armor she is wearing, which is really good stat-wise, but I really need to give her a more original look. Maybe if I throw that thong on her she will start bringing in them crystals, lol. Then it will feel good to be a pimp.

DavePimpMoney.gif
 
Japan HAS been making good games this gen, but they've mostly been invisible to the mainstream. Or reviewed poorly by western publications due to very real biases that have, by and large, been swept under the rug.

People have overblown the Japanese hate this gen. Most of these Western developed games that get so much praise like Call of Duty, Gears, Skyrim, Fallout, etc. are overrated as fuck and quite frankly very boring games to me. Even Mass Effect which I was a huge fan of at first went straight down the shitter. I've been having a lot more fun with games like Dark Souls, Dragon's Dogma, Final Fantasy XIII-2, and so forth than I have had with most of these "superior" Western franchises.

Those games have actually been impressing me from a gameplay and variety perspective.
 

Anteater

Member
I am getting about the same kind of ratings for my pawn. She looks great and has become a fine Warrior at only level 32. I am thinking it's the DLC armor she is wearing, which is really good stat-wise, but I really need to give her a more original look. Maybe if I throw that thong on her she will start bringing in them crystals, lol. Then it will feel good to be a pimp.

They're just jealous our pawns looks too good.

but I do have some really old gears on her, lol, not sure where to buy better looking mage clothes
 

owlbeak

Member
assholes, rating my pawn 3 stars for appearance and 4 stars everything else

my pawn looks good.
Check out the top rated pawns, most of them look like 10 year old girls with thongs on. So, apparently unless your pawn looks like that you don't get good ratings haha.
 

Arcteryx

Member
They're just jealous our pawns looks too good.

but I do have some really old gears on her, lol, not sure where to buy better looking mage clothes

Have to just quest around and re-load chests. I was stuck with basic stuff for quite awhile until I found a place with a lot of chests, rinsed and repeat loaded until I got what I wanted :)


Check out the top rated pawns, most of them look like 10 year old girls with thongs on. So, apparently unless your pawn looks like that you don't get good ratings haha.
That's partly it, but a lot has to do with originality as well. I see TONs of pawns using starter gear or the DLC armor, which is cool and all...but meh.


I have a normal sized pawn and what I would consider "high fantasy" look to her, and she has no trouble bringing in close to 600,000rc a day now.

You might also consider switching their class as well. I've seen a lack of higher level Rangers/Striders(40+), so they are DEFINITELY in need.
 

ironcreed

Banned
People have overblown the Japanese hate this gen. Most of these Western developed games that get so much praise like Call of Duty, Gears, Skyrim, Fallout, etc. are overrated as fuck and quite frankly very boring games to me. Even Mass Effect which I was a huge fan of at first went straight down the shitter. I've been having a lot more fun with games like Dark Souls, Dragon's Dogma, Final Fantasy XIII-2, and so forth than I have had with most of these "superior" Western franchises.

Those games have actually been impressing me from a gameplay and variety perspective.

While I love many of the Western games like Skyrim, I can't argue. I am having more fun with the Japanese developed games as well. This is just another case of it that rates right up there with the Souls series for me. Which is saying that it is up there with my absolute favorite games of this generation.
 
I kinda wanted to make a post about this but I'm not sure if there's enough meat to it for much discussion.


But food for thought...


Japan sucks at making games™. The four best RPGs this gen are Demon's Souls, Dark Souls, Nier and Dragon's Dogma.





Heh.


I liked Skyrim. I liked Amalur. I loved ME2 (I refuse to sully it with ME3). There's been plenty of great western RPGs. But for my money, the top stuff still comes out of japan. Heck, I think i would put FFXIII-2 over everything I mentioned in this paragraph.

The only really good western RPG this generation was Dues Ex: Human Revolution, and that game was criminally ignored by the shills.

In any case, women in this game just do not look right. From hundreds of pawns I have seen, to screenshots online, something is off with the women in the game. I have tried making asian women, caucasian women, african american women of all color red skin, brown, darker complexions, obese women, old women. I have not seen ONE, or even remotely passable well made female character in this game from numerous people.
 

ironcreed

Banned
Have to just quest around and re-load chests. I was stuck with basic stuff for quite awhile until I found a place with a lot of chests, rinsed and repeat loaded until I got what I wanted :)



That's partly it, but a lot has to do with originality as well. I see TONs of pawns using starter gear or the DLC armor, which is cool and all...but meh.

Which reminds me, I need to head into that dungeon around Soul Flayer Canyon I saw you posting about yesterday. If I remember correctly, that was you who said you got some great gear in there, right?
 

Arcteryx

Member
Which reminds me, I need to head into that dungeon around Soul Flayer Canyon I saw you posting about yesterday. If I remember correctly, that was you who said you got some great gear in there, right?

Yes, there are a number of chests there(some in kind of tricky spots to reach) which work well with re-loading til you get something good.

Make sure you bring plenty of oil and potions for
curing the disease that turns you to stone
 

ironcreed

Banned
Yes, there are a number of chests there(some in kind of tricky spots to reach) which work well with re-loading til you get something good.

Make sure you bring plenty of oil and potions for
curing the disease that turns you to stone

Will do. I'll be heading there tonight.
 

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
People have overblown the Japanese hate this gen. Most of these Western developed games that get so much praise like Call of Duty, Gears, Skyrim, Fallout, etc. are overrated as fuck and quite frankly very boring games to me. Even Mass Effect which I was a huge fan of at first went straight down the shitter. I've been having a lot more fun with games like Dark Souls, Dragon's Dogma, Final Fantasy XIII-2, and so forth than I have had with most of these "superior" Western franchises.

Those games have actually been impressing me from a gameplay and variety perspective.

I think at this point we have to start drawing an important distinction in gaming. That a good product is not always a good game, and a good game is not always a good product. Seriously.

Skyrim is a good product (well, if you weren't a PS3 owner...).

Easy to play, a giant sandbox that lets the player roam around and casually screw with stuff, not too demanding. With production values and aesthetic direction to appeal to as wide an audience as possible in the western market.

But hardcore Elder Scrolls fans will tell you how it's not a good game (nor is Oblivion) compared to Morrowind. Too many aspects nerfed, ripped out, or poorly executed. Worse overall design.

Something like Dragon's Dogma is not a good 'product' in many ways. It is not as technically polished as a huge budget western game or instantly lavish with lots of cut scenes or a Michael Bay CG intro to blow the casual player's mind and pump them up. It is not as easy to play as possible at first. It punishes the player for making early mistakes. Its interface is still more Japanese in concept. (And contrary to popular opinions, western game interfaces aren't great. They've just been tweaked to answer specific gripes that western players have, or to look visually fancy and impressive. But Skyrim's interface, for example, is not any better than Dragon's Dogma from a practical standpoint.)

But it's a better game in a lot of ways. The specific things it focuses on, it does with far more depth and polished mechanics than Skyrim.

Speaking very generally (disclaimer!) Japanese developers are great at 'mechanics'. They love to design systems and can make these pristine interlocking frameworks for gameplay that feel meaty and rewarding - and also ask that the player really engage the game and rise to a challenge to develop an actual skill at playing it or applying it. What mainly hurt those developers this gen was that they initially weren't making (or good at making) at few of the mega popular genres that came to dominate the west. Like open world, or sandbox, games. And they hadn't caught up to the west in presentation. At least in a style that westerners would accept.

But this game, for instance, is a good open world game. As a sandbox to screw around it may be one of the very best I've played this gen. Its primary limitations appear technical due to the consoles being so old at this point.

Anyway I realize this is getting off topic.
 
Japan HAS been making good games this gen, but they've mostly been invisible to the mainstream. Or reviewed poorly by western publications due to very real biases that have, by and large, been swept under the rug...

mainstream reviews are no longer reviews. they are promotion, pure & simple. &, for the most part, everything other than western triple-a titles are dissed in order to further the promotion of 'the chosen ones' :) ...
 
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