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Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen PC |OT| Wolves hunt in 4K

Cyanity

Banned
I've had my eye on this game for a while now. Finally picked it up because of the sale going on right now. I actually feel bad for not paying more for the game now that I've had a chance to play it. DD is scratching all of the same itches as that first magical playthrough of Dark Souls did back in the day. Really looking forward to digging into this game over the winter break.
 
I've had my eye on this game for a while now. Finally picked it up because of the sale going on right now. I actually feel bad for not paying more for the game now that I've had a chance to play it. DD is scratching all of the same itches as that first magical playthrough of Dark Souls did back in the day. Really looking forward to digging into this game over the winter break.

one of my favourite games. Got it again and played through it (dark arisen) still so so good; and the combat makes skyrim which I'm playing now feel so damn boring. Love DD. one of capcom's best and they really need to make a sequel.
 

Shengar

Member
Sprinting mod was no longer necessary when Dark Arisen introduces more crystal port into the game. I could understand the use of unlimited stamina for traversing around the world in the original game since it obnoxiously hard to get anywhere without wasting your time. But in the Dark Arisen, they've made enough change to balance it between adventuring and traversing.

Removing this breaks the game. Do not do this. Sprinting mod, OK whatever, but the other... SMH

Unlimited sprinting is one thing, but removing weight....might as well play different game really.
 

LiQuid!

I proudly and openly admit to wishing death upon the mothers of people I don't like
There's one mod I absolutely wish there was and that's one that makes the forgery shop deliver instantly. The amount of time spent running back and forth to the inn to rest a day in my time with DD is absurd.
 

mnz

Unconfirmed Member
Has anyone ever had items vanish? I was looking for "foreign knives", found two, went back to the city and they are just gone. No trace left. Any idea how this could happen?
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
There's one mod I absolutely wish there was and that's one that makes the forgery shop deliver instantly. The amount of time spent running back and forth to the inn to rest a day in my time with DD is absurd.
Yeah, that one I really wouldn't mind. lol

Has anyone ever had items vanish? I was looking for "foreign knives", found two, went back to the city and they are just gone. No trace left. Any idea how this could happen?
Are you sure you didn't stash them in your box at the inn?
 

jonjonaug

Member
Has anyone ever had items vanish? I was looking for "foreign knives", found two, went back to the city and they are just gone. No trace left. Any idea how this could happen?

Did you give it to a Pawn to carry? Pawns will automatically use throwing items.
 
D

Deleted member 10571

Unconfirmed Member
I played until I got some location for what I guess is the dragon's lair, and stopped playing for reasons. Then I wondered how I just got in 38 hours, but everyone told me this game's really really long. Is there still so much stuff coming up? The world seems kinda done I think, it's not as huge as I expected but there doesn't seem to be anything I didn't visit either. Should I play on? I never heard of the wyrms someone talked about earlier, which made me wonder.

Me stopping was quite a while ago though, not sure if I'll get into it again without problems.
 
I've never played this before. How is the combo system and mod support? I haven't been able to find much high level gameplay for this game. Also, is the mod support difficult/annoying to use? Not sure why they don't have Steam Workshop support.
 

Keratay

Neo Member
I played until I got some location for what I guess is the dragon's lair, and stopped playing for reasons. Then I wondered how I just got in 38 hours, but everyone told me this game's really really long. Is there still so much stuff coming up? The world seems kinda done I think, it's not as huge as I expected but there doesn't seem to be anything I didn't visit either. Should I play on? I never heard of the wyrms someone talked about earlier, which made me wonder.

Me stopping was quite a while ago though, not sure if I'll get into it again without problems.

The game is long because you can do base game -> postgame -> newgame+ -> bitterblack isle ->...

The base game itself is quite short but there's still much more to be done if you enjoy the gameplay.
 
D

Deleted member 10571

Unconfirmed Member
The game is long because you can do base game -> postgame -> newgame+ -> bitterblack isle ->...

The base game itself is quite short but there's still much more to be done if you enjoy the gameplay.

Gotcha, thanks :)
 

HeeHo

Member
When I first played DD, the Stamina drain from running didn't bother me at all. After playing other games with faster stam regen like Monster Hunter and Dark Souls, it does seem pretty slow.

However, once you get the Assassin class, there is this ability that makes you run super fast! Stick with the slow stamina or eat a buncha fish in the mean time until you get that ability.
 

draetenth

Member
The game is long because you can do base game -> postgame -> newgame+ -> bitterblack isle ->...

The base game itself is quite short but there's still much more to be done if you enjoy the gameplay.

Just to add to this:

Monsters get stronger in postgame (you can find a wyrm and wyvern in the world, goblins get a stronger form, etc.).

Complete Bitterblack Isle once and it becomes BBI 2.0 where everything gets stronger and more dangerous (Wyrms, Wyverns, Drakes get a much stronger form and even the final boss of BBI gets stronger).
 

jonjonaug

Member
Killed Ur last night. Have been missing grace for over a week before that.

Still got the Speed Run achievement to get which does not look that fun TBH.

If your character can kill Ur then it should only take about 1-2 hours. The critical path through the game is really short and your set up portcrystals and inventory carry over.
 
Enjoying the game so far. It's definitely what I was looking for in an action RPG. 14 hours sure went by fast...

I started as a Fighter, and then switched to Strider for a while once I got to Gran Soren, and now I'm a Warrior. I think I'll try the Ranger next. I like leveling up different vocations to get the passives, since they can be used across vocations. My main pawn is a Mage. I changed her to a Sorcerer for a bit to get a new passive, but I prefer her as a Mage for the healing spell.

Combat is fun, but the game is not without its frustrations. I really wish they had a general dodge or roll for every class (not just the Strider), like in Dark Souls. I also wish the game autosaved more frequently, because I've probably lost a cumulative ~45 mins of game time so far just from dying and realizing I hadn't saved for 5-10 mins. Not the end of the world by any means, but still unnecessarily annoying.
 
Playing as a Ranger now and it's very satisfying sending enemies flying with my longbow. It's way easier to deal with groups now, since I can snipe from afar.

Also, big props to the devs for making pawns actually useful. Usually NPCs are either a small help or a downright hindrance in combat, but the pawns in this game are invaluable. My team consists of a Sorcerer, a Mage, and a Fighter. The Fighter in particular is super useful as a tank and badass damage dealer.
 

Shengar

Member
Playing as a Ranger now and it's very satisfying sending enemies flying with my longbow. It's way easier to deal with groups now, since I can snipe from afar.

Also, big props to the devs for making pawns actually useful. Usually NPCs are either a small help or a downright hindrance in combat, but the pawns in this game are invaluable. My team consists of a Sorcerer, a Mage, and a Fighter. The Fighter in particular is super useful as a tank and badass damage dealer.

Maybe it just me, but I think they have improved the Pawn AI. But even back then their AI wasn't so awful if you're able to set their inclination right.
 

O.DOGG

Member
I've been trying to kill the drake for a couple of hours now with zero success. I almost managed it the first time but when I got him down to about one bar of health he went crazy. I'm playing an Assassin, currently level 37. Any tips?
 
I've only played 3 hours and already installed the infinite sprint mod.
Thank god for mods.

Anyway, I need to scan the thread for tips, anyone got a short list of fundamental stuff noobs should know?
 
Playing as an Assassin now. This might be the vocation I stick with. Ranger and Warrior were both plenty of fun, but also quite one-dimensional. The Assassin is like the Strider, except you can use swords (which I prefer).

I've only played 3 hours and already installed the infinite sprint mod.
Thank god for mods.

Anyway, I need to scan the thread for tips, anyone got a short list of fundamental stuff noobs should know?

I found this video helpful. It's quick (~5 mins) and does a good job of explaining most of the basic stuff you should know:

Dragon's Dogma - Tips For New Players

i installed unlimited sprint from day 1 and still enjoyed the game. in fact, i think it made it more enjoyable.

Yeah, I've been using unlimited sprint from the start. No regrets so far.

I actually ended up not downloading the unlimited sprint mod. I thought I'd want it, but it turns out I tend to take my time while journeying across the world.

I'm really tempted to download one of those mods that increases your carry weight though. I always try to keep my weight at Very Light, but I also like to pick up basically every item and herb I come across. The end result is that I'm constantly transferring items to my followers, and/or going back and forth to an inn to put them in storage. If I'm gonna do it, I'll probably just get the mod that doubles your carry capacity, instead of making it something ridiculous like 10,000%.
 

LiQuid!

I proudly and openly admit to wishing death upon the mothers of people I don't like
Anyway, I need to scan the thread for tips, anyone got a short list of fundamental stuff noobs should know?
Don't use the infinite sprint mod

I know I'm fighting a losing battle here, but infinite sprint really is quite dumb. The game is set up so that whenever you venture out from the main hub city at the crack of dawn, it takes a very specific amount of time to get to the farthest areas of the world map. If you have infinite sprint you can get places during the day that you normally wouldn't get to until night time. Sprint is not meant to be used to hasten travel time. It's to be used to escape a hopeless battle. At the end of the day, it's a single player game and people are going to cheat to trivialize if they want and it's not really going to effect me but enabling cheat codes to bypass deliberate design is some entitlement nonsense I personally don't understand.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
Don't use the infinite sprint mod

I know I'm fighting a losing battle here, but infinite sprint really is quite dumb. The game is set up so that whenever you venture out from the main hub city at the crack of dawn, it takes a very specific amount of time to get to the farthest areas of the world map. If you have infinite sprint you can get places during the day that you normally wouldn't get to until night time. Sprint is not meant to be used to hasten travel time. It's to be used to escape a hopeless battle. At the end of the day, it's a single player game and people are going to cheat to trivialize if they want and it's not really going to effect me but enabling cheat codes to bypass deliberate design is some entitlement nonsense I personally don't understand.
Yup. Even worse is the infinite carry load mod. Completely game-breaking. Oh hey carry an infinite amount of curatives and exploding arrows, how could that possibly break the game balance? e_e

Luap -- just stop picking up every random crap you find or transfer them to your pawns. Problem solved without cheating.
 

DaciaJC

Gold Member
I'm really tempted to download one of those mods that increases your carry weight though. I always try to keep my weight at Very Light, but I also like to pick up basically every item and herb I come across. The end result is that I'm constantly transferring items to my followers, and/or going back and forth to an inn to put them in storage. If I'm gonna do it, I'll probably just get the mod that doubles your carry capacity, instead of making it something ridiculous like 10,000%.

There's at least one augment that increases carrying capacity. I think it might be behind the Warrior vocation, but I forget what rank you need to be to unlock it.

EDIT: Nope, it's a Fighter augment. There's also a Strider augment that reduces your weight class by one.
 
Yup. Even worse is the infinite carry load mod. Completely game-breaking. Oh hey carry an infinite amount of curatives and exploding arrows, how could that possibly break the game balance? e_e

Luap -- just stop picking up every random crap you find or transfer them to your pawns. Problem solved without cheating.

How can I possibly stop? They're just sitting there, asking for me to take them!

There's at least one augment that increases carrying capacity. I think it might be behind the Warrior vocation, but I forget what rank you need to be to unlock it.

EDIT: Nope, it's a Fighter augment. There's also a Strider augment that reduces your weight class by one.

Ok guys, I just looked up the augments and I'll switch vocations to Strider and get that Leg-Strength one. I'm already using the Fighter's Sinew augment. With those together I should probably be alright without getting a mod.
 
I found this video helpful. It's quick (~5 mins) and does a good job of explaining most of the basic stuff you should know:

Dragon's Dogma - Tips For New Players





I actually ended up not downloading the unlimited sprint mod. I thought I'd want it, but it turns out I tend to take my time while journeying across the world.

I'm really tempted to download one of those mods that increases your carry weight though. I always try to keep my weight at Very Light, but I also like to pick up basically every item and herb I come across. The end result is that I'm constantly transferring items to my followers, and/or going back and forth to an inn to put them in storage. If I'm gonna do it, I'll probably just get the mod that doubles your carry capacity, instead of making it something ridiculous like 10,000%.

Thanks for the video.
 
This game really does overuse the escort-type quests. Thankfully I got one of those portcrystals and put it in a central location so I'm never too far away from the destination.
 
Arousing Suspicion has been the best quest so far, in terms of story. I just looked on the wiki and apparently it's pretty easy to miss it, so I'm relieved I didn't. Still, I was pissed that
Aelinore got my ass thrown in the dungeon and tortured like that. That's what I get for trying to lay pipe with a married woman I guess. Never throwing the D her way again
.
 
Wut. All the Aelinore-related quests are garbage story-wise. They don't even take your character's gender into account... -_-

Lol, well my character is a guy so that part was fine. All the other quests have been pretty bad... especially that one where you have to walk around Gran Soren with that rich guy's daughter all day. Thankfully the reward was good.

Playing this game right after The Witcher 3, it really drives home why people love the latter game so much. Even TW3's less noteworthy sidequests had better writing than anything in this game so far. However, I'm way more addicted to this game than I ever was with TW3. For me, gameplay > everything else, and this game has some mighty fun combat.
 

heringer

Member
Yeah, I don't think this game is for me, sadly. After 6 hours I'm pretty bored.

The combat is definitely pretty good and controls are smooth and responsive, but everything else falls flat. It's one of the most bland and uninteresting open worlds I've seem, graphics are very weak, there's virtually no story or atmosphere or anything else to pull you in. It really is all about the combat, I suppose.

That would be fine if everything in between combat sections wasn't so boring. I accept a quest (most of which are uninteresting fetch quests) and the game wants me to cross the whole map by foot? With that ridiculously slow walking speed? Yeahhhh, no. I'm out.
 
Aldous is telling me to take care of all my other affairs before continuing, so I'm guessing I've reached the point of no return in the main quest line.

So far I've maxed out the Strider and Warrior vocations, and I'm pretty far along on the Fighter, Ranger, and Assassin ones. Assassin is my overall favorite so far, since it has a wide range of skills available. Warrior is my least favorite, since it has a limited skillset, slow attacks, and no ranged abilities.

My main pawn has both Mage and Sorcerer vocations maxed out, and I switch her between them depending on the vocations of my other pawns. My most common pawn setup is Mage + Sorcerer + Fighter. It works quite well for me.

Yeah, I don't think this game is for me, sadly. After 6 hours I'm pretty bored.

The combat is definitely pretty good and controls are smooth and responsive, but everything else falls flat. It's one of the most bland and uninteresting open worlds I've seem, graphics are very weak, there's virtually no story or atmosphere or anything else to pull you in. It really is all about the combat, I suppose.

That would be fine if everything in between combat sections wasn't so boring. I accept a quest (most of which are uninteresting fetch quests) and the game wants me to cross the whole map by foot? With that ridiculously slow walking speed? Yeahhhh, no. I'm out.

Yeah, I'm enjoying the game (44 hours so far) but I can see how many wouldn't like it. It doesn't have much to offer outside of the combat, as you said. I wonder if scrapping the bland open world for a more linear level design (like Dark Souls) would have made it a bit better?
 

Regginator

Member
Anyone else having the loading times from Dragon's Dogma take an eternity? When I started in the first area after the tutorial, it loaded up pretty fast. Not more than 10 seconds. Now after a few hours in, I noticed it increased to around 30-40 seconds. Any idea what caused this increase?

For what it's worth, I'm playing it maxed out at 1440p (downsampled), no AA and 60fps cap.

Further info:

i5 4670K at 4.0 GHz
R9 280X at 1.040 GHz
8 GB RAM at stock 1600 MHz
Game is installed on a a 5-year old 2TB HDD (5.400 RPM)
 
^ I've had no such issues, sorry.

Aldous is telling me to take care of all my other affairs before continuing, so I'm guessing I've reached the point of no return in the main quest line.

Welp, the game tricks you because it isn't actually the point of no return. Lol...

Now I'm off to The Blighted Manse to save a certain damsel in distress.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
He's saying this because some quests will expire after that point, so it's a fair warning to make sure that doesn't happen. Strangely the game is not consistent with this, as sometimes some quests will expire without warning, especially early on. Go figure.
 

Sober

Member
I feel like rolling an archer was a bad idea. Tried it twice. Got to Gran Soren and all that but even with Bow Mode it feels really clumsy to play. Like I have to switch away in kb/m from secondary skills to be able to fire the bow as normal so it just seems really odd to me.

Also maybe it's also because of that but I can't tell if something is scaled to my level because I feel like I need to just keep regular shooting to do any damage to enemies, or my multi-arrow/charged arrow attacks don't really do enough to feel like they are big nukes, so I can't tell if enemies are way above my pay grade or my skills just suck.

I don't think I get lost but I feel like because I don't find the game as quest driven it feels aimless to me, or at least now that I've gotten to Gran Soren I don't know where to go. And apparently
going down the temple thing-y under the Pawn guild was like something I really wasn't supposed to do so early according to some guides. But it was like the first thing I did.
 
Oh man, Grigori was an epic boss fight. He's such a cool antagonist. I was struggling against him because I was using the ice-infused sword, and it turns out he isn't weak to ice lol. I figured out he's weak to dark when my Sorcerer pawn used High Maelstrom and it did massive amounts of damage. I almost died several times but my Mage pawn had some clutch heals. I love the AI in this game -- your pawn teammates are really a great help.

Oh and thankfully Quina turned out to be my beloved. She's the one I wanted, but I figured the game would choose Aelinore since I had just rescued her and all.

Now, onward to the post-game!

I feel like rolling an archer was a bad idea. Tried it twice. Got to Gran Soren and all that but even with Bow Mode it feels really clumsy to play. Like I have to switch away in kb/m from secondary skills to be able to fire the bow as normal so it just seems really odd to me.

Also maybe it's also because of that but I can't tell if something is scaled to my level because I feel like I need to just keep regular shooting to do any damage to enemies, or my multi-arrow/charged arrow attacks don't really do enough to feel like they are big nukes, so I can't tell if enemies are way above my pay grade or my skills just suck.

I don't think I get lost but I feel like because I don't find the game as quest driven it feels aimless to me, or at least now that I've gotten to Gran Soren I don't know where to go. And apparently
going down the temple thing-y under the Pawn guild was like something I really wasn't supposed to do so early according to some guides. But it was like the first thing I did.

By archer do you mean the Ranger? Yeah tbh I found the damage pretty disappointing too. Maybe we're doing something wrong. Are you aiming for the enemy's weak points? Listen to your pawns, they will sometimes tell you where the weak spot is. Also, having a Mage/Sorcerer pawn with some enchantment skills is a huge help, especially once they learn which elements each enemy is weak to.

I suggest trying the Assassin vocation -- you still get to use a bow, but you also have access to sword, dagger, and shield skills as well. It's my favorite.

As far as what to do next, head up to the Noble Quarter and do the Wyrm Hunt quests. If you really want some direction, here's a guide that shows the main quest path:

http://www.ign.com/wikis/dragons-dogma/Main_Quest
 

Baalzebup

Member
Oh man, Grigori was an epic boss fight. He's such a cool antagonist.
I don't think there is another antagonist in video game history that matches the Awesome / Screentime ratio of Grigori, beside Senator Armstrong. A spectacle of a boss fight laced with some really good lines, delivered by some fantastic voice-work. The scene with the Elysium is just so goooood.
Also maybe it's also because of that but I can't tell if something is scaled to my level because I feel like I need to just keep regular shooting to do any damage to enemies, or my multi-arrow/charged arrow attacks don't really do enough to feel like they are big nukes, so I can't tell if enemies are way above my pay grade or my skills just suck.
The game features a grand total of zero scaling. The only indication of relative enemy levels is the dynamic soundtrack, which will play a few choice songs when you are up against enemies that are clearly of higher level.
 

Morrigan Stark

Arrogant Smirk
I feel like rolling an archer was a bad idea. Tried it twice. Got to Gran Soren and all that but even with Bow Mode it feels really clumsy to play. Like I have to switch away in kb/m from secondary skills to be able to fire the bow as normal so it just seems really odd to me.
I think this game is meant to be played with a controller. Archer classes play wonderfully with it. Weird that m/kb would suck for archery though.

Also maybe it's also because of that but I can't tell if something is scaled to my level because I feel like I need to just keep regular shooting to do any damage to enemies, or my multi-arrow/charged arrow attacks don't really do enough to feel like they are big nukes, so I can't tell if enemies are way above my pay grade or my skills just suck.
There is no scaling.
Skills like <n>fold flurries etc. can do devastating damage if you use them right. Target the weak points. Use pawns with smart elemental buffing if you can. If you still are barely scratching the monster, and they're wrecking your HP with one hit, then you're clearly too low level, so just run away for now and come back when you have better gear.

I don't think I get lost but I feel like because I don't find the game as quest driven it feels aimless to me, or at least now that I've gotten to Gran Soren I don't know where to go. And apparently
going down the temple thing-y under the Pawn guild was like something I really wasn't supposed to do so early according to some guides. But it was like the first thing I did.
? The Everfall quest is one of the only thing you can do once you reach Gran Soren. Some guides say to wait because a few early-game quests expire once you finish that one (quests you picked up in Cassardis, mostly), but it's not a big deal.

They only indication of relative enemy levels is the dynamic soundtrack, which will play a few choice songs when you are up against enemies that are clearly of higher level.
Wut? I never noticed that. The songs that play against stronger enemies have always been by enemy type (Chimera, Hydras, Cyclops, Griffins etc. each have their own theme). And the only "dynamic" song I recall is the "Imminent Victory" theme, when you've manage to deal serious damage to a big monster and it gets staggered. Speaking of which, I fucking love that song, and I will use any excuse or opportunity to link it. :D

At the End of the Struggle

Electric Guitar version! (not used in-game... sadly)
 
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