Dragon's Dogma: Arisen

[lasbazrre]

Got this mainly because of you lot.... :approve: It's no Dark/Demon Souls, but fair all the same and great value!!! Well somehow i've stumbled to level 14 - i don't really know how TBH. I've got to Gran Soren.

I've got the wiki, but not really looked at it, other than to look if there's some sort of begginers/basic game advice section which there isn't. Have any of you's got some basic advice on the game. Got it on PS3

​Thanks

 

[Sargara]

The only thing to bare in mind, this is a party game not a solo RPG like Skyrim, Dark Souls. Your entire time will be spent with 4 members, of which the AI fully controls 3 and you directly control your character. You can customise 1 of the party members, who is refered to as your "pawn" to the same level of customisation as your main character. So you pick appearence, armor, weapons, spells etc.

The remainding 2 party members will come via hiring/firing other players pawns, which you cant control or level up in the same manner you can your own pawn. So this means you have full control over how your party is setup. You could have 2 melee, a healer, a mage. Or 4 melee etc. The choice is totally up to you.

So bare in mind what kind of game do you want to play. Do you want to be the guy at the back firing off spells, or do you want to be the guy in the thick of it climbing up Cyclops to reach their eye. As whichever role you chose, the rest will be left up to the AI to fulfil so you lose that direct influence.

 

[Brand86]

WOW I got lucky last night! Went into the Ur Dragon layer to have a crack and it had about 2% health on the final bar! Almost wetting myself in excitement I managed to take it down!

ALmost levelled up twice, got a stack of money, about 30 wakestones, 3 bits of abysal armour, St George's mask, a new staff and loads of materials and rift points from the dragon's dead body! Also a little achievement too.

Considering that was only my third encounter I was VERY fortunate, probably never get it again!

 

[Sargara]

3 bits of Abysal armour!
Damnit you have more than me now even after i cleared BI just from being jammy on the ur dragon. What is the St George's mask like?

 

[Brand86]

Don't really like it! It's got good stats and protection from holy magic - but looks like the phantom of the opera mask, not my thing! I still really want to complete the crimson and immortal sets of armour, but only have the chest piece for crimson and all but the chest piece for immortal. Not that you get any bonuses for wearing complete armour sets as far as I'm aware?

Annoyingly I didn't have all my kit on me I would have liked dragon forged when I took on the dragon last night as wasn't expecting to kill it - as there's 100% of dragon forging whatever you're wearing when it dies.

 

[Sargara]

The quickest way I found to get Dragon Forged items is using the Rotundra. As it randomly spawns when you enter, just keep going in/out until you get a Dragon foe spawn and keep farming them. My biggest challenge is being a Mystic Knight i often switch Sword/Shield for Staff. But the majority of time I'm climbing the dragon to kill its heart so i never have the staff equipped when they die

 

[Brand86]

Yeah I got my melting focus staff dragon forged last night - pretty powerful now but still prefer a sword! Also got a new weapon for my warrior pawn which was less powerful damage wise than his existing one but much higher for magic - and that makes a big difference later on in the game.

It's weird the more I play this game the more things there seem to do. The early game seems completely different to where I'm at now. I hope there's a sequel on the next gen!

 

[martynzs]

Brand - thanks for the PM mate, very helpful!

Managed to sneak in another 30 mins last night, trying to escape from the Everfall after the big octopus things starts attacking - is the tactic to attack the tentacles as you go, or just run? (I found my team kept on attacking them and dieing!)

​

 

[Brand86]

Oh mate I wouldn't go in the Everfall so early on! It will be very hard work - what level are you now?

Having said that though if you can kill something and it's challenging you will level up quickly. I think when I took that eye on I was really over levelled so just hit it a few times - but if you're a fighter just jump on him and hit him in the eye!

 

[martynzs]

Ah ok. It was the first thing I got told to do when I got to the capital - some bloke asked if I could take a look and I agreed!

Looking youtube, it appears the idea is to just run, and any fallen pawns will not be lost - handy!

​

 

[Sargara]

You can issue commands to your team (via the Dpad on Xbox). So while you run away spam the "follow me" command or whatever its called and that should prompt them to stop attacking and catch up.

But yeah peg it out of that place when the tentacles come and dont stop

 

[Brand86]

I think for a sequel you should be able to micro manage your team better - that was an advantage of Dragon Age or Mass Effect.

 

[martynzs]

I think I had about 140 hours in Dragon Age across various characters - easily in my top 5 games, I have the complete bundle that will never be traded in!

Im hoping DD will become of of those games!

 

[Brand86]

It has been for me - although I admit wasn't getting into it the first few hours (read my initial posts on the matter!) but quickly grows on you. Definitely not a Western RPG, but not a Japanese one really either. The combat is much better than most RPGs though and challenge is good, and upgrading feels more meaningful later in the game. After 15 hours you'll be hooked, I predict!

 

[Sargara]

Welllllllllll i killed ur-dragon too

I logged on and rested at an Inn and got greeted by my pawn returning from helping 3 players! 86k RC nice. I was running low on cash after upgrading the previous BI items so i decided to head to the Everfall to farm some Wakestones (they sell for 30k each) only i ended up in the ur-dragons room by accident (chamber of lament i think?). As i entered the rewards from the only time i ever faced him spawned at the other side which i had totally forgotten about! On the way to cross the room to reach the rewards well you can imagine what happened lol.

He landed but had no coloured HP bar it was all greyed out but all of his weak spots were glowing active? I still dont know if it was a bug or not but i ended up climbing around him hitting each weakspot once and then voila, he died!

I got the St Georges mask too along with a 2handed weapon, 2 shields, 3 abysal armor peices and some other stuff. Well chuffed

 

[Brand86]

Ha amazing! That's pretty much exactly what happened to me! You play on PC though don't you? I sort of felt like I was cheating a bit as only faced him twice before but just both got super lucky I guess!

Only problem is it's quite addictive I think, not been back to BI since killing him and faced him 3 more times.

Level 101 now, how high have you come up? I'm wearing the asura armour to learn vocations quickly but my character looks s%^t now with it and the George's mask on. Even have the gloves of might which are pink too.... :S

 

[Sargara]

Nah not PC, its not available otherwise I would! Its the 360 version I just took a photo of my monitor with my phone lol. Im pretty much still the level shown in that pic, lv74 or lv75 off the top of my head.

I'll get a pic of my character later but I essentially only wear armor I think looks good, I dont put things on based on stats otherwise I too would be wearing the St Georges Mask.

 

[Brand86]

Oh yeah in that case I think you've confirmed something weird about the leader board, as on mine I am on the immediate board as you come in despite over a dozen dragons spawning since the one I killed - doesn't seem to update with the latest kill. It also places me about 15,000th overall despite only about 300 dragons in total being killed - so assume it's down to total damage inflicted or something?

​I have had enough farming Evefall so going back to finish BI now I think

 

[martynzs]

Yeah im hooked on this now lol.

 

[Brand86]

Good lad! I'm level 113 now and just killed thee main boss on BI who was surprisingly easy (although my 2 hired pawns both died early on and I only had 2 wakestones left by the end) but going back into the place to use the moonbeam gems I acquired I was instantly having problems! Everything seems MUCH harder now and in 2 rooms I had 2 sets of ultra hard bosses (which I didn't kill!)

Just finishing off the last vocations now for my main character and pawn (both rangers actually) then going to go back there and get back on it.

Amazing how addictive this game is. As the story is so underplayed though and the minimal use of online I would like to see more online arena battles in any sequel or online co-op - basically something like Borderlands 2 would be great!

 

[Sargara]

My character on the right, "Bromance" pawn in the middle and a random hired pawn on the left

 

[Brand86]

Nice! Rocking the same sword and shield combo I had for ages too by the looks of it! What level are you now mate?

One my pawn is up to level 10 vocation as ranger think I'm going to keep him as a fighter and despite me preferring a fighter type myself I think either the mystic knight or ranger/assasin are the best overall. The latter as they are good at grappling big bosses which is what BI is all about. Plus I saw someone kill Death on a video using a ranger VERY easily and that's the only real thing left for me to do...apart from lots of farming. Will be sad when it comes to an end though, I doubt I'll play through it again as I never do with any RPG.

 

[Brand86]

Just encountered a fire drake on BBI and it was VERY tough - took ages to kill and was destroying me. Got there eventually though and dragon forged al my equipment except my daggers. Took millions of blast arrows and strength potions though.

My pawn cam back from the rift with a cool 95k of crystals so spent that on the purple skin pigment - with that and neon green hair he is looking pretty cool so hopefully attracts some attention and gets hired out more.

Level 118 no now and planning on going back through BBI but it's proving very difficult second time around - although I did clear one of the sanctum rooms with 2 elder ogres, several normal ogres and some destroyers which was very tough.

A tip for you all - go to Camelia in Gran Soren and buy crimson concoctions and doses of strength and you can combine to make vigor extract which boosts your strength and like conqueror's periapt you can use 4 at a time to get a meaty damage bonus. If you use warlock's draught instead of strength you get silverwheat paste which boosts magic.

 

[martynzs]

Still early on in the game, level 25ish now I think.

Made my way into the abandoned mine and got destroyed by an ogre. Got him down to about 10% health but then he got me!

Loving the game now though, reminds me a lot of DA2, just not crap!

 

[Sargara]

Nice one Brand. I just completed the game this morning as like you mentioned further back I had pretty much exhausted the main game and was sick of the permanent "emo sky" setting so went through the hoops to complete it. Also tried UR Dragon again incase I would be lucky with a 2nd kill but no chance it was about 70% full HP this time

Martynzs,
When you entered the mine was there a guy with a quest stood outside asking for your help? If you do manage to complete it and help him that entire mine becomes a shortcut and monsters never respawn in it again. Its definitely worth doing

 

[Brand86]

Yeah do it! Let your pawns kill the ogres if you're struggling and just revive them as necessary.

I had a good bout against Death last night - pummelled him with blast arrows, strength enhancements and tenfold flurry and took out about 2 bars of health in a manner of seconds! But then as soon as he recovered from stagger he vanished!

I will find you and I WILL kill you Death!

 

[martynzs]

Martynzs,
When you entered the mine was there a guy with a quest stood outside asking for your help? If you do manage to complete it and help him that entire mine becomes a shortcut and monsters never respawn in it again. Its definitely worth doing

Yes there was, and I got the Ogre to open up at the gate by getting him to step onto the platform...I didnt survive long enough to let the chap know lol (atleast, I assume that was the gate he was on about!)

 

[lasbazrre]

Can somebody explain to me more about Portcrystals and Ferrystones please?

Do you just put the Portcrystal down where you choose and transport back with a Ferrystone? or is there more to it than that? ie you can only use item once, etc, etc

 

[Brand86]

You use portcrystals essentially as fast access points, then use ferrystones to travel between them. When I was in the main game I would put them near missions so I could jump in and out (e.g. going back to Gran Soren to stock up on consumables or upgrades).

You can pick them back up to move them though if you want and you can buy ferrystones from several places.

You will still end up probably walking about a fair bit to get to new locations but later in the game it's more about fast travelling.

 

[lasbazrre]

You use portcrystals essentially as fast access points, then use ferrystones to travel between them. When I was in the main game I would put them near missions so I could jump in and out (e.g. going back to Gran Soren to stock up on consumables or upgrades).

You can pick them back up to move them though if you want and you can buy ferrystones from several places.

You will still end up probably walking about a fair bit to get to new locations but later in the game it's more about fast travelling.

Thanks mate - i've lost/misplaced my portcrystals

Last time i 100% had them was on Bitterblack Isle

I must of given them to a party member or deposited them (i wouldn't of discarded them) but i can't find them for the life of me. Anybody got any ideas where they could be?

Sorry for the clutsey question

 

[Brand86]

Oh right...not sure then mate :S Unless you sold them to a vendor not sure they would be...could be a bit of an issue. Have you tried Googling the issue?

 

[martynzs]

When do you get port crystals? Fairly sure I dont have any yet?

 

[Brand86]

There's only like 4 or 5 in the whole game mate so you might not have found one yet. There's one in Bitterback Isle automatically to get you there, can't remember where I found the others. Try the Dragon's Dogma Wiki pages maybe?

​

 

[Sargara]

You find them at certain parts of the game. They just look like a glowing rock that you pick them up like any other item and they add to your Inventory (you will notice it, they are bloody heavy!)

The first one you find is either at the bottom of the Everfall (the room where the tentacles attack under the pawn guild) or at the Bluemoon tower where you fight the gryphon in the top room.

 

[lasbazrre]

If i can't find them again i'm gonna have to start again - i had 3 or 4

 

[Brand86]

That's annoying! How far in are you mate?

 

[Brand86]

Right - Ranger is definitely the most powerful class! Tenfold fury + strength concoctions (x4) + blast arrows = mega death. I killed a condemned cyclops in a couple of minutes last night! Almost feels like cheating. I would recommend this class if you're struggling.

Nearly killed Death too - 2 more life bars to go. He is actually pretty easy when you have a strategy. Hopefully will kill him on the next encounter.

 

[martynzs]

Level 33 now and finding it slightly annoying I have to trek all the way to an inn to upgrade my abilities!

 

[Brand86]

It would get a bit repetitive! Have you not got any ferrystones yet? I quite like trekking through new places though - always something new to see and foes to fight.

I miss the days before facing the dragon when the skies were blue - the sunrises and sunsets look spectacular!

 

[Sargara]

So its official:
http://wccftech.com/dragons-dogma-dark-arisen-pc-ps3-comparison-shows-huge-improvements/

Jan 2016.
@Brand86