Dragons Dogma 5/22/12 Updated with Expansion details

[quote name='Jodou']Beat the second form after reading that you can stack conqueror's charm to 4x and just wail on his face. Did that twice and he died in like 2 minutes lol. IDK why but running this dungeon over and over for mats to upgrade and trying to build a set of gear is so much fun. Only have one piece of the Trophy set so far that's for assassins, but I did get the new short bow that owns hard. That and I'm working on beating Death, who shows up randomly as you go through and only sticks around for about one bar of his health. After so many encounters you can kill him for (hopefully) some epic drops.

This might just be my favorite PS3 game of all-time![/QUOTE]
i forgot to ask you, did they actually added more than 1 save slot
 
[quote name='YBX87']i forgot to ask you, did they actually added more than 1 save slot[/QUOTE]
This is one thing I wish they would have added personally, but I understand why they didn't. The pawn system adds backend to their server database, so by limiting save slots to one they curb the massive amount of pawns people would likely make and abandon by making new saves. However, there's nothing stopping you from creating new PSN accounts with the express purpose of a new save slot. ;)

I know it's not an ideal workaround, but it is one way to make alts and even trade items to them via the gift system.
 
[quote name='bjstucker']I am pretty low level with my new character (15) but would love to have some of your Pawns :) add me to

PSN: Koanashi[/QUOTE]
Sure, I'll add you but be aware my pawn is almost level capped now and a fully geared purebred sorc, so she will do massive damage with just one spell. I.e. she might cheapen the experience by trivializing some encounters by one-shotting them lol. But she'll be there in case you get stuck. ;)

Pretty much have Daimon on farm now with a pair of new daggers I got and I'm starting to get pissed off the gear I want isn't dropping lol. Trying to get the shadow or oblivion chest for my assassin and I keep getting imortals or other crap. Only way to get it is by running the third wing, which is kind of sucky considering one thing I liked about Diablo II was knowing certain bosses had higher chances at dropping certain loot so it mixed things up. Oh well, already got my money's worth from this expansion by playing the shit out of it. It's also awesome to see a ton of people using my pawn now because she's super geared. Seemed like less people used her in the original game because I out-leveled most players and hadn't quite maximized her potential. Now she's a powerhouse and people lover her. :D
 
does it benefit you at all to lend some1 your pawn? i forgot to mention i just started last week, but did not get much playtime on it. I was trying to beat some1 other games, so i can trade them in quick enough, without losing much value.
 
Thanks Jodou. Funny I have a lvl 60 pawn from another friend who acts more like a guide and stays out of my way for the most part.

YBX87 It does indeed help if you get stuck and or if you want to try harder quests and they are free instead of quite a bit of rift coins. I wanted to plow through the game with my current character because I have already beaten it and I wanted to play the new content.
 
Whats new with Dark Arise? Someone told me you get new armor/weapons, but I literally just started playing the game and was wondering how far along until I can equip/use them?
 
[quote name='YBX87']does it benefit you at all to lend some1 your pawn?[/QUOTE]
Higher level pawns will cost rift crystals and after just a few levels they become so expensive almost nobody could afford them. Pawns of PSN friends are free, regardless of level, so you could bring a max level pawn to a hard fight and obliterate the monster.
[quote name='Brainberry']Whats new with Dark Arise? Someone told me you get new armor/weapons, but I literally just started playing the game and was wondering how far along until I can equip/use them?[/QUOTE]
Gear can be equipped at any level, but you need to be able to beat the encounters to get it obviously. It is not accessible until you've beaten the main game at least once and I'm not sure if level 50 is a requirement as well, but if not it should be. The new dungeon is extremely hard without some proper gear to start with and would probably be a nightmare for players under level 100 as many attacks can one-shot you easily under a certain HP threshold. Each room pits you against at least two mobs types, and occasionally three, with the monsters ranging from normal mobs to bosses. I have had encounters fighting two gore-cyclops, a bunch of wizards that will one-shot you with spells if you don't avoid them, and Death -- all at the same time. The new content pulls no punches, but once you learn their mechanics and get a little gear it becomes extremely rewarding.

Got off on a tangent but you will not notice the new gear until you can go to Bitterblack Isle. Until then I really recommend learning the boss fights well, because you will face them 2-3 at a time later.
 
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[quote name='Brainberry']I'm currently Level 6 and I hired two pawns over level 100. Is this a bad idea? Should I use pawn closer to my level?[/QUOTE]
Depends on what you want out of the game. If you just want to cruise through and see all the game has to offer, then those pawns will make the game a breeze. Half the appeal of the game is taking on hard enemies and learning the mechanics to prevail. I think most people will find the game boring if you just ignore mechanics and faceroll through it with super pawns. If you have the patience, the game is extremely rewarding when you overcome something you might think impossible. I can say from experience that if you keep a cool head and have any degree of skill with dodging, you can beat everything the game has to offer after some practice.

Then, as you get better gear, those tough fights become even easier to the point where you can beat them with your eyes closed. It's that level of progression I really dig in these type of games because it's all about the skill of the player, not the gear/levels.
 
[quote name='Jodou']Depends on what you want out of the game. If you just want to cruise through and see all the game has to offer, then those pawns will make the game a breeze. Half the appeal of the game is taking on hard enemies and learning the mechanics to prevail. I think most people will find the game boring if you just ignore mechanics and faceroll through it with super pawns. If you have the patience, the game is extremely rewarding when you overcome something you might think impossible. I can say from experience that if you keep a cool head and have any degree of skill with dodging, you can beat everything the game has to offer after some practice.

Then, as you get better gear, those tough fights become even easier to the point where you can beat them with your eyes closed. It's that level of progression I really dig in these type of games because it's all about the skill of the player, not the gear/levels.[/QUOTE]

Oh, I'm not worried about difficulty, considering I played Demon and Dark Souls. Are you telling me its more challenging then both those games? Its just that the first trip to the Rift, the first two pawns popped up, and they were high level and didn't cost anything (0RC) so I grabbed them, and plus they had on some pretty cool armor. I will return them when I get back on though, I don;t want it to ruin the gameplay. How is most of the cool gear acquired? Through main quest or side? Pretty excited to find out though, I havent played a great RPG since Dark Souls/KOA.
 
[quote name='Brainberry']Oh, I'm not worried about difficulty, considering I played Demon and Dark Souls. Are you telling me its more challenging then both those games? Its just that the first trip to the Rift, the first two pawns popped up, and they were high level and didn't cost anything (0RC) so I grabbed them, and plus they had on some pretty cool armor. I will return them when I get back on though, I don;t want it to ruin the gameplay. How is most of the cool gear acquired? Through main quest or side? Pretty excited to find out though, I havent played a great RPG since Dark Souls/KOA.[/QUOTE]
i doubt it, demons and dark souls are probably harder/less forgiving.
 
Really thinking of getting DA, mainly due to Jodou's love of it (as he also loved Demons/Dark Souls, which I also adore). Would it be possible to get the free goodies by renting the original, just creating a save, and then importing that "starting" save into DA?
 
[quote name='Brainberry']Are you telling me its more challenging then both those games? How is most of the cool gear acquired? Through main quest or side? Pretty excited to find out though, I havent played a great RPG since Dark Souls/KOA.[/QUOTE]
It's less challenging in one regard because you can save anytime, anywhere out of combat. However, on a combat level I'd say it's equally on par thanks to a robust dodge system and depth of skills. Unfortunately, it's a little less balanced for the pure melee classes like warrior, since the game pretty much requires you to have some ranged attacks to hit weak spots. Do try all the classes until you find your niche though, because they all feel very unique and awesome.

The best gear found is mostly off the UR-dragon for weapons and for armor is just spread out throughout the game. The only stats that really matter are def/m.def on armor to tell if they're better than what you have. Resistances are nice, but not required since there's plenty of curative items to remove ailments. In all honesty you can just equip what you think is cool and do fine. Stacking fire resist will help fighting most dragons though.
[quote name='Zmonkay']Would it be possible to get the free goodies by renting the original, just creating a save, and then importing that "starting" save into DA?[/QUOTE]Yes, in fact DA creates a new save after importing your original game, so you can restart anytime off that original save with all the extras.
 
I really need to pick this up. I just can't justify getting it yet since I have such a back log and I know it'll take me a bit to get through it. Maybe one day.
 
[quote name='Brainberry']Is there a fast travel option? I'm already level 17 and it hasnt popped up yet[/QUOTE]

I'm not too far ahead of you. I'm around 30 and you get Ferrystones a little later on. They can transport you from anywhere to Gran Soren and your hometown Cassardis. Also, you get Portcrystals where you can place in various spots to create your own places for Ferrystone to take you. I've only got my first Portcrystal and havent placed it anywhere yet. It's annoying to start the game but the traveling, can be a fun experience. Sometimes too challenging if you find the right spots.
 
Thanks kdiddy.

Also If I change vocations right now from Strider to Assassin will it start me at level 1 again or will it retain my current level? What are the pro's n cons from switching vocations?
 
[quote name='Brainberry']Thanks kdiddy.

Also If I change vocations right now from Strider to Assassin will it start me at level 1 again or will it retain my current level? What are the pro's n cons from switching vocations?[/QUOTE]
It will start you at rank 1 for the vocation, which only has 9 ranks but will not reset your actual level. Advance classes will have unique abilities and augments but also share some of the same ones from the main classes. Now for the big one: STAT GROWTH. Each vocation is different and that means you do NOT want to sit on one of the main classes after you can choose an advance vocation (if you do want a skill or augment, most people try to increase ranks between levels and switch before actually leveling up). For instance, Assassin has the highest attack gain in the game level 10-100. Warrior has the best HP gain with second best attack and so on. For this reason, some pawns are groomed with this growth in mind to have very high HP and defense at level cap. They can become literal tanks no matter what vocation they are at that point, which are highly desirable among endgame players. This is why you see a billion warriors while leveling up because of the high HP and balanced attack/defense gain. This is all min-maxing talk so if you don't care about it, just have fun exploring each vocation since they're all awesome. More here.

So to summarize, the pros are gaining new abilities/augments and altering your stat growth plan. The cons are once you've really committed to a class, there's no going back and doing well. By committed I mean level 50 melee class deciding they'd rather be a magic user for example. So be sure you want to either use melee/ranged or magic because damage is very strong if you just focus on one or the other. You can always try out the hybrids but the problem is running up against something strong versus an element. It just kills your DPS.
 
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[quote name='Jodou']Yes, in fact DA creates a new save after importing your original game, so you can restart anytime off that original save with all the extras.[/QUOTE]

Nice, thanks! Gonna pick this up once I wrap up what I'm currently playing then.
 
My Amazon order came in and I started today. Currently level 6. Seems fun so far, but I feel like I may need a good guide, as I feel like some things could be explained better.

A few questions -
Whats up with the flasks. I find them, I fill a few with water and don't really know what they're for yet.
How important are consumables?
Should I gear up myself or a pawn first? (I'm a strider, main pawn is mage, I recruited 2 fighters)
Is this the type of game where all the random stuff I'm picking up should be sold, or kept for crafting down the line?

Anyway, I'm Jaylu on PSN. Feel free to add for Pawn trading.
 
[quote name='jalu6']A few questions -
Whats up with the flasks. I find them, I fill a few with water and don't really know what they're for yet.
How important are consumables?
Should I gear up myself or a pawn first? (I'm a strider, main pawn is mage, I recruited 2 fighters)
Is this the type of game where all the random stuff I'm picking up should be sold, or kept for crafting down the line?[/QUOTE]
Flasks of oil are the only important one to keep your lantern lit. Every item is explained if you hit a button for the description while highlighting it. Flask of water can be used to douse an enemy for example, making them resistant to fire but weak vs ice/lightning. You will want to keep a good stock of healing consumables handy, but keeping yourself light-weight is important for mobility too. It's a balance.

Gear yourself and pawn equally with whatever you find. Pawns can be revived over and over, so keeping yourself alive is always more important though. Also try to keep everything you find (especially skulls, banners, and tufts of hair; there will be a quest for those later on) and only sell excess armor/weapons you don't want. I usually kept a stock of at least 20 of any given materials in storage because you never know when you might need something to upgrade gear.
 
Man, I went in to BBI at level 36 and got raped pretty hard lol.

I think I'm underleveled, on The Final Battle and been getting stomped by The Dragon too.

Wheres the best place to power level to 50? lol
 
No real power level spots until you beat the dragon, so I'm not sure. Maybe the goblin fortress or try working on upgrading your gear by farming mats.
 
Okay, beat the Dragon lvl 39. Took me too long, like more than an hour >< I just spmammed blast arrows lol

Now I can go to everfall and power level?
 
[quote name='Brainberry']Now I can go to everfall and power level?[/QUOTE]
Power level is a strong word. More like get your ass kicked. :lol:

But seriously, it's a great place to gear and level but it will be slow going at the start considering this WAS the endgame previously.
 
[quote name='Jodou']Power level is a strong word. More like get your ass kicked. :lol:

But seriously, it's a great place to gear and level but it will be slow going at the start considering this WAS the endgame previously.[/QUOTE]

I just switched to Magick Archer, wish me luck.
 
[quote name='Brainberry']I just switched to Magick Archer, wish me luck.[/QUOTE]
I actually tried that out when I was getting some gear for my sorc dragonforged and it's pretty cool except for fighting enemies that are resistant to magick. I just find that high attack weapons rape and anything with magick added or an innate enchants suck, except for heaven's key daggers on the UR-dragon. The homing arrow shots were cool as hell though.
 
[quote name='Brainberry']Just got to Chamber Of Lament and Ur-Dragon isn't popping up. Are there any prerequisites I need? I'm currently on Fathom Deep quest.[/QUOTE]
If you're doing the online one, he could be dead and it's the grace period for people to collect their loot. When he's up you'll just have to tool around in the middle of the arena until he attacks. Offline he'll always be there until you kill him.
 
[quote name='Jodou']If you're doing the online one, he could be dead and it's the grace period for people to collect their loot. When he's up you'll just have to tool around in the middle of the arena until he attacks. Offline he'll always be there until you kill him.[/QUOTE]

Nice, I think I'll try him offline then. I want Heavens Key, and I think he drops it.

Edit 1: Wow 1 hour in and I've only managed to drop 1 of ur's bars.

Seems like I can't climb him either.

Edit 2: So I managed to kill off two of his health bars and he disappears? WTF!

Edit 3: Finally beat him! Took me like 7 rest, got a Ascalon instead of the Heavens Key I wanted, pretty sweet sword though. I'm happy with it and the shit load of wakestones I got.
 
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Wow 1 hour in and I've only managed to drop 1 of ur's bars.

Seems like I can't climb him either.

Edit: So I managed to kill off two of his health bars and he disappears? WTF!
 
If you want to be pro, use liquid vim and climb to his weak spots, then pop 4x conqueror's charms and spam thousand kisses. It's dagger only but if you have dragon's pain or something good like that, he will get owned really fast. Once you have heaven's key, he will get dominated lol.
 
Man I'm on New Game plus and doing BBI. Pretty hard, only level 50 but when I fought this huge giant cyclops with armor I got beat pretty bad. I'm an Assassin and running with a Mage/Sorc/Warrior.
 
[quote name='Brainberry']Man I'm on New Game plus and doing BBI. Pretty hard, only level 50 but when I fought this huge giant cyclops with armor I got beat pretty bad. I'm an Assassin and running with a Mage/Sorc/Warrior.[/QUOTE]
Pro-tip: sorcs can double up their spells for one powerful blast, so if you drop the warrior for another sorc with similar skills they will do massive damage with each spell. My pawn teamed up with another sorc I found can basically one-shot some enemies or shave off bars from others by themselves. That basically leaves you to tank but sins can evasion tank super easy and for gore cyclops you can either hop your way up to the head to try and do massive damage or just keep goading it with your bow and dodge the club swings.

BTW, I've been in situations where I'm fighting two of those gore cyclops, hellhounds and death -- all at the same time and won. :lol:
 
OK so I caved and picked this up. Found out my buddy actually had the first one but has never played it, so I created a quick new game, saved, and started up DA. Only had a chance to play a couple hours (can now summon/hire pawns). Like it well enough so far, but where's the damned loot? I bought a sword and thanks to the import stuff had some pretty sweet (statwise) armor outfit to pick, but if I didn't have DA I'd probably still be in a fucking tunic...

Looking forward to plunging in this weekend though.
 
Man I think I lucked out, hopped in a Ur Dragon fight and he literally had like 100 HP left, got the last hit and got a bunch of gear, Abyssinal Armor Set, enchanted Shield, Mace and Greatsword.
 
[quote name='Brainberry']Man I think I lucked out, hopped in a Ur Dragon fight and he literally had like 100 HP left, got the last hit and got a bunch of gear, Abyssinal Armor Set, enchanted Shield, Mace and Greatsword.[/QUOTE]
I wouldn't spend too much time on him since all the good stuff is on the isle now. Even if you're running past mobs to loot chests and liftstone to the surface, you'll find better stuff down there.
 
[quote name='Jodou']I wouldn't spend too much time on him since all the good stuff is on the isle now. Even if you're running past mobs to loot chests and liftstone to the surface, you'll find better stuff down there.[/QUOTE]

You think I can pull that off @ LVL 50? I feel like I would just be wasting time. I get insta killed down there lol I was able to get the Void Key though. And it seems like you need a lot of RC to get some of the gear and I have like 500rc.
 
Ah shit, that's true. I took for granted starting with about 400k RC to spend and the fact that people were using my pawn like crazy so I'd get 100k at a time heh. The thing is that you can get some of the same UR loot from level 1-2 UNID items. I know for a fact I got a Dragon's Risen as one of my first loots and was pissed because of how hard I had worked to get it originally ha. Prior to the expac, it was the BiS staff for sorcs so there's genuinely good stuff down there if you can take a few hits and have the RC to spend.
 
[quote name='Jodou']Ah shit, that's true. I took for granted starting with about 400k RC to spend and the fact that people were using my pawn like crazy so I'd get 100k at a time heh. The thing is that you can get some of the same UR loot from level 1-2 UNID items. I know for a fact I got a Dragon's Risen as one of my first loots and was pissed because of how hard I had worked to get it originally ha. Prior to the expac, it was the BiS staff for sorcs so there's genuinely good stuff down there if you can take a few hits and have the RC to spend.[/QUOTE]

Actually, I've been grinding down there in BBI, just beat the Dark Bishop, took a while though, now I'm level 60. Best loot I've gotten was Twilight Arm Armor.

How do you kill Death? I've bumped into him 3 times already and can't do any damage, he just kills my pawns and leaves lol.
 
[quote name='Brainberry']How do you kill Death? I've bumped into him 3 times already and can't do any damage, he just kills my pawns and leaves lol.[/QUOTE]
Lol, well you're supposed to scare him off by shaving a bar of his life off. I've found he's incredibly easy if you don't panic and just bait him to do his sleep spell and run away a bit, then turn around to do some damage. He will either teleport to you or start chasing and you can rinse, repeat. Most of the time he'll ignore your pawns if you do it right and just keep chasing you until he runs off. I've killed him 4-5 times through the course of farming the final boss and sometimes he'll even get stuck on a wall or something where you can just keep firing away until he leaves lol. He has a real hard time with entering rooms so if you can't beat him you can always just run to another room where you're safe.
 
Death is pretty disappointing as far as bosses go. His attack patterns are way too obvious, and if you equip yourself with sleep resistance he's basically a floating target.

I kind of wish that on your second run through, he would act something like the Nemesis in RE3, and just chase your ass until you damaged him enough or escaped to a safe area. Of course, that would get old really fast.
 
I should really level up more before I proceed in BBI, its such a slow grind. Took me 1 hour to kill 2 condemed gore cyclops just for 3 giant hell hound thingy's to spawn and insta kill me before I even got a chance to pick up my cursed loot lol


@62 I was thinking 100 would be a ideal level to go back.
 
I tend to skip the cyclops, since they have a ton of HP and are too wild to take down the easy way. They're just a pain in the ass and almost never drop level 3 stuffs. They're usually chained up and easy to skip anyway.
 
[quote name='Jodou']I tend to skip the cyclops, since they have a ton of HP and are too wild to take down the easy way. They're just a pain in the ass and almost never drop level 3 stuffs. They're usually chained up and easy to skip anyway.[/QUOTE]

I do decent damage with my MA, its the stam restrictions that make it drag on.

What level are you? I feel like I should switch my pawn's voc, she's been pure mage from the start.
 
I need to get this.. I finished the original version then I started again for the platinum but I sent it back to gamefly. Do they share the same trophies?
 
[quote name='darkskill']I need to get this.. I finished the original version then I started again for the platinum but I sent it back to gamefly. Do they share the same trophies?[/QUOTE]

Yeah, exact same trophy list in fact. Shame they didn't add any for the new stuff.
 
[quote name='Brainberry']What level are you? I feel like I should switch my pawn's voc, she's been pure mage from the start.[/QUOTE]
I'm level capped at 200. And yeah, your pawn should have been upgraded to an advanced class a long time ago for the better stat growth. Sorc is the only real path you can choose for them now for higher magick attack.
 
I just received the plat. I'm about to take on BBI.

I have a question before I begin. Is there anyway to change the NPC who your character saves? My guy saves Caxton each time. However, this time after I used the Godsbane Aelinore appeared on the beach with me. Any tips to avoid Caxton as my muse?
 
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