twmac

Dragon's Dogma

Recommended Posts

I just sold Dragon's Dogma, played a few hours of it.

I can see what everyone enjoyed about it. When combat with big monsters hit it was very cool indeed. Clambering around on them, trying to make sure my party was getting it done, an epic fight. And the "Pawn" party system was pretty different and cool, definitely a nice change of pace from the Bioware style thing that others riff off of so much.

But everything else just fell down flat for me. The world wasn't really interesting or pretty in almost any sense of the word, from technical presentation to art direction to lore it all fell rather flat and uninteresting. The questing system was even worse. I went to get about as generic a dozen as generic quests as you could ask for, and then I spent over an hour not being able to figure out what to do.

And that doesn't happen to me in games! Crusader Kings 2? I got this, I stopped looking at the tutorial because I enjoyed just trying to figure it out on my own more. And I did, no problem despite have a thousand stats and etc. you have to keep track of on every little thing! Dragon's Dogma? They give me a fantastically vague description of "go tail a guy" and then a map system of menus that's absolutely horrid and just doesn't work at all. I tried to go to another quest, wandered around in the dark for a while and got lost several times because everything but one single path was a dead end to where I wanted to get too, and the map was so horrible it was hard to tell what path that was.

I play open world RPG's, in general, to explore pretty lands and find cool things and get all the neat treasure. But there's no neat treasure and no neat exploration and no pretty things to see. So I tried playing to go and fight giant monsters, because that was cool. Except none of the quests I had seemed to entail that, and I couldn't find out how to do them anyway.

I really enjoyed the game when they were hitting what they did right, but it seemed to me that they did it so little, and so many other thins wrong or missing, that it just wasn't worth it. I do hope, and expect them, to make a sequel. But I also hope they do it with more thought and polish and more of what it is they nail instead of trying to be a bad copy of Skyrim (which is a game I didn't like anyway).

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Dark Arisen is out this week!

 

I am so excited I can hardly contain myself.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

i'm all over this shit on Friday :woohoo:

 

Although i don't really know what i'm getting myself in for (all the better). i always stress myself out picking a character class then end up picking a man with a sword

 

okayguy.jpg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Don't worry, your levels are independent from your class affinity. You can switch your classes fairly freely as long as you get yourself some decent gear.

 

If you need help getting through the game (and you are on X360) add me as a friend and you can borrow my Pawn. He is a beast at level 60 and is a good damage sponge.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The only thing to keep in mind is that, during a level-up, stats grow based on what the currently selected job is, but otherwise nothing is permanent.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Started in on Dark Arisen last night. Cool game! I agree with Frenetic Pony about the blandness about the setting, but I'm into other aspects of it.

The first time around, I saw a lot of comparisons to Skyrim and Dark Souls, but this game is really more of an offshoot of Monster Hunter by my reckoning.

I wish it had the cat people from MH, though. They're so cute.

edit: Holy shit, watching your pawns smash and ransack everything in town is hilarious! It's like watching a video game protagonist from the perspective of the townsfolk. (For those who don't know, your AI companions collect stuff in the world for you, which means they smash open crates and carts and dig through people's belongings of their own volition. You are the chosen one after all, and they work for you.)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So, I am introducing this game to friend of mine. He loves open worlds like Skyrim.

 

Having re-read comments by Frenetic Pony and Benito, I am now worried that he isn't going to like it. The thing is, I found the exploration to be fantastic because the incentive wasn't the loot so much as the weird and wonderful fighting set pieces as well as the strange monsters that occasionally show up unexpectedly. Adding to this is the Dark Souls-like tension of knowing that the longer that you spend out in the world the more likely that nightfall will come and it becomes massively more stressful.

 

That combination of excitement and dread is what makes this world and the exploration therein my favourite of pretty much any game.

 

Will probably drop in and write about how it went.

 

Edit: Changed 'not' to 'now'

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I watched my roommate's absurdly small character climb on goats while his giant NPC friend ran around for a while, it was entertaining for at least half an hour.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

My buddy ended up playing through the tutorial and fighting the dragon.

 

He took on the Cyclops at the beginning and promptly died. The good news was that he was sold on the game and is going to play it on his PS3 when he gets home.

 

Success!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So, with the new PC release, Austin Walker's glowing recommendation, and several friends getting into it, I've started playing this and having a lot of fun so far.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So I keep learning new skills for my main character, but I can't seem to actually execute them. At first I thought maybe I wasn't setting them correctly, but my pawn character seems to be using his new skills no problem, so I'm not sure what the issue is...

 

Other than not being able to figure this out I am really enjoying this game, and it is scratching that Monster Hunter itch that I've had for awhile.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Did you also equip them after you learned them? Are you using a controller and, if so, have you tried each bumper? Primary skills are mapped to LB (or L1 I guess?) and secondary skills are RB.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

What's bullshit is that it's not on PC, quit complaining.

 

 

Your wish has been fulfilled

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Holy crap my character is so much more powerful now that I can execute her special moves. Of course I still ended up dying last night when I ran into a pack of about a dozen lizard people and a chimera.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think I know where you are. I was having a tough time with the lizards and then I ran like a baby when I saw the Chimera in the distance.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

And think I know this place too, I was there and decided to push foward until nightfall when I foolish think "I heard that when night fall things get very dangerous, but it can´t be that hard..."  so I keep going foward, until realized the mistake I did and had to flee using one of those cristals to teleport in such a hurry, with a bunch of undead, bandits and wolfs behind me, that I lost a pawn.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Yeah, night time can be pretty intense, especially if you're not prepared. So many wolves to murder...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Cool! Except now when I sleep at an inn it fails to connect to the server? I could even get online inside a rift stone to favourite your pawn, but it won't let me update my own. Is there a way to force this besides sleeping? :(

 

Edit: Disregard, fixed it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Killed my first Chimera and Griffin last night. The griffin fight was very long at level 28, and didn't reward me with much. I have a feeling I wasn't supposed to do that yet?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I've taken down a few Griffins now at level ~30 and they seemed like they were about where I was at. Mind you, I'm playing mage/sorcerer so I probably had an easier time of it than a melee character. Griffins are just a matter of spamming fire at their wings to keep them grounded and then melting the head. I did have some trouble with the Chimera, though, mainly because they attack so swiftly if they decide to target you and mages don't have a dodge/block move. So yeah, it might be more a matter of what you're playing than what level you're at.

 

p.s. I really really like this game. How do I even have 45 hours played?! I feel like I'm just beginning.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now