Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen for Nintendo Switch |OT| Wolves Hunt On The Go, Arisen!

Her Hero Is Gone · May 25, 2019

Civilstrife said:
Quick question: Am I robbing myself of the Dragon's Dogma Experience™ by using the Eternal Ferrystone a lot?

Not necessarily. Feeling compelled to press on with night time exploration in unfamiliar areas and then dawn finally breaking is a real mood that's unique to the game though. I'm guessing you could almost entirely skip that if you constantly fast travel.

Rakuyo · May 25, 2019

Mejilan said:
Just sent you a friend request and added you to our Google Sheet.

ResetEra Pawn List (Dragon's Dogma Switch Version)

ResetEra Pawn List (Dragon's Dogma Switch Version) ResetEra User,Nintendo ID,Friend Code,Vocation,Pawn Name,Pawn level,Notes: (PLEASE DO NOT CHANGE THE ORDER OF THE LIST OF USERS. THANK YOU!),Last Updated Hana-Bi,Hana-Bi,5204-9572-7518,Mage,Shiruke,49,Utilitarian / Medicant / Mitigator support ...

docs.google.com

Great, thank you!

Bob Beat · May 25, 2019

Kirbivore said:
Well it is fun messing with different styles. For the most part, for first playthroughs, messing around seems like a good idea since the Gear can make up for deficiencies.

That being said the perk of switching vocations not only let you shape your characters as you want, it also unlocks augments that you can apply to your character regardless of their current vocation to make you stronger. You will still gain DP even if you lax out a rank, but it won't level up your current vocation.

Thank you. I did a bit of wiki digging and switched up. I started out as a fighter, now need to boost my stamina. I'll try out a lot of vocations.

Also just found about the rusted weapons and topor. Will try that out.

Fonst · May 25, 2019

I was digging this game but I'm not sure how I feel about this game anymore. I am SO early & I thought I was doing good. I only have one quest available and that wants me to go SO far away. That's fine so I go on my journey and constantly being jumped by SUPER strong things. Seemingly never-ending hoard of Lizardmen...finally beat them but then giant troll, not so bad...then another that throws all my people off the cliff. I am spending so much time re-doing these battles that are right next to each other. I got frustrated and bumped it down to Easy Mode, deal with it.

I had to stop playing because life and get back to it a week later. I left off after the first troll and I am instantly ambushed by some SUPER black knight. This dude takes me a very long time to kill. Immediately a bunch of thieves and wolves appear that aren't too bad but last few run away because a 3-healthbar Chimera appears. What is a Chimera doing here? Barely get 1/4 of its first lifebar down and ANOTHER super black night joins the battle and owns us all.

I am not even at level 20 and I have a mage, knight, and ranger pawn. What is going on? I didn't go off the road/path. Definitely turning me off of this game.

Also, no fast travel? I vaguely heard about gems but do I have to put them down everywhere? Can I have more than one present?

Mejilan · May 25, 2019

You need to learn how to pick your battles. Running is an option. At least until you're better prepared. And get into the habit of performing a manual save after every battle. At least until your levels, gear, and confidence are up. Still a good habit to get into. The auto-save system is very sporadic and WILL fuck you if you try to rely on just that. The brigands on the way to the Witchwood (which is where I imagine you're headed), are meant to be very tough for the point in the game where they first send you in that direction. It's supposed to teach you to know when to cut and run.

Vanilla Dragon's Dogma had little in the way of a fast travel system. It was more of a quick teleport back to Gran Soren meant to be used after an extended outing or a major quest. It was basically a one-way system until NG+ or much later in the game.

Dark Arisen improved the system dramatically in a few ways.
1) They tripled the number of "fixed" (can't be moved/changed) portcrystals. Instead of there just being one in Gran Soren, the capital city, you also get one just outside Cassardis (your starting village) and another at the piers of Biiterblack Isle, the new end-game expansion zone.
2) On top of the fixed portcrystals, throughout your quest you will find four (correction: five) portable port crystals that you can set in any outdoor location. For all intents and purposes, they can be picked up again and moved around to wherever you need them. But between the 3 fixed portcrystals and the four (five) portable ones, you've got enough to get by.
3) The single-use ferrystone consumables used to travel from portcrystal to portcrystal (which are heavy to carry in numbers and prohibitively expensive) are still around as part of the legacy system, but they've added an eternal ferrystone which, as you'd expect, can be used an infinite amount of times and completely supplants the legacy ferrystones.
4) You'll open up fast travel once you first make it to the capital of Gran Soren, which is where you'll also get your eternal ferrystone (check your storage at the inn there). You'll also be able to get your first portable portcrystal on a very special hill just north of Gran Soren. You can technically get it before you get to the capital, but fast travel is closed until you do, so there's little reason to visit that knoll before Gran Soren.
5) In NG+ things expand further. The four (five) portable portcrystals you had in place before your transition to NG+ remain, plus you can recollect new copies of those four (five) portable portcrystals in the same places you found them in your first run, doubling the number of portables from four five) to eight (correction: 10). On top of that, a vendor in NG+ begins to sell an infinite amount of portable portcrystals, though realistically don't need them. You may only place 10 portables throughout the game world. It won't let you place an 11th. The three fixed portcrystals do NOT count against this quota.

Kirbivore · May 25, 2019

4? I thought there was five

Mejilan · May 25, 2019

Kirbivore said:
4? I thought there was five

Everfall
Hillfigure Knoll
Shadow Fort
Witchwood depths

Edit - Sorry. Those four listed above were added to Dark Arisen. There was one in vanilla in Bluemoon Tower available during a specific quest. That one's still available. So yes, five in total. My mistake. Editing my post above.

Disclaimer · May 25, 2019

Mejilan said:
Everfall
Hillfigure Knoll
Shadow Fort
Witchwood depths

And Bluemoon Tower.

Mejilan · May 25, 2019

Disclaimer said:
And Bluemoon Tower.

Yup, I noticed my mistake and made the appropriate edits. Thank you to you and Kirbivore for pointing that out. I may be level 130 and deep in BBI 2.0, but I have yet to meet the Duke in my main game, so I only have 3 of the 5 available portables, and had forgotten about the Bluemoon Tower one. Last time I played was in early 2018 on the PS4. And before that, it was the vanilla version on PS3, which I finished before Dark Arisen hit. Again, my bad, and thanks for noticing.

The Awesomest · May 27, 2019

How necessary is hiring a Ranger pawn? Would it be better to just go with a second Warrior?

HBK · May 27, 2019

The Awesomest said:
How necessary is hiring a Ranger pawn? Would it be better to just go with a second Warrior?

There are few (very few, but still) enemies which will be extremely difficult to beat without a ranged physical attacker.

That being said, as long as you don't encounter/fight them, I'd say "not at all". But I like them. Who doesn't like bow and arrows? :p

Tailzo · May 27, 2019

Mejilan said:
Yup, I noticed my mistake and made the appropriate edits. Thank you to you and Kirbivore for pointing that out. I may be level 130 and deep in BBI 2.0, but I have yet to meet the Duke in my main game, so I only have 3 of the 5 available portables, and had forgotten about the Bluemoon Tower one. Last time I played was in early 2018 on the PS4. And before that, it was the vanilla version on PS3, which I finished before Dark Arisen hit. Again, my bad, and thanks for noticing.

I don't know if this counts as doing a new game plus, but here is what I did

Started a new game, collected 3 of the portable portcrystals
placed them
Changed to difficulty to hard, which in turn restarted the story, but I kept everything, including the portanle portcrystals
Changed back to normal, gathered 4 portcrystals (the same ones as before + another)
Now I can teleport a lot of places with ease

Mejilan · May 27, 2019

Tailzo said:
I don't know if this counts as doing a new game plus, but here is what I did

Started a new game, collected 3 of the portable portcrystals

placed them

Changed to difficulty to hard, which in turn restarted the story, but I kept everything, including the portanle portcrystals

Changed back to normal, gathered 4 portcrystals (the same ones as before + another)

Now I can teleport a lot of places with ease

Yes, this also works for the BBI quest to collection 30 Macabre Sculptures, of which there are exactly 30 scattered throughout the end-game dungeon. You can grab half in one run, and the other half in NG+ or a "rebooted" Normal Run turned into a Hard Run. The 30 are identical (though like most BBI items, they can't be duped at the Black Cat), but the game doesn't really care which 30 you get. Sadly, I can't use this trick, since I STARTED on Hard, and dropping from that to Normal doesn't reset your world state.

But it's not much of a big deal. You can get 3 of the 5 portable port crystals before you meet the Duke (really early in the game), giving you a total of 6 locations if you include the 3 fixed portcrystals. And 8 by the time you're done with the run. That's enough to create a fairly comfortable fast travel network. And I already got the 30 Macabre Sculptures.

The Awesomest · May 27, 2019

HBK said:
There are few (very few, but still) enemies which will be extremely difficult to beat without a ranged physical attacker.

That being said, as long as you don't encounter/fight them, I'd say "not at all". But I like them. Who doesn't like bow and arrows? :p

I was originally a Ranger, but I've recently switched over to Mage. I loved staying at the back and sniping everyone, but I wasn't sure how much I could trust the AI to take over. The pawn I've hired now seems to favor her daggers.

Tailzo · May 27, 2019

Mejilan said:
Yes, this also works for the BBI quest to collection 30 Macabre Sculptures, of which there are exactly 30 scattered throughout the end-game dungeon. You can grab half in one run, and the other half in NG+ or a "rebooted" Normal Run turned into a Hard Run. The 30 are identical (though like most BBI items, they can't be duped at the Black Cat), but the game doesn't really care which 30 you get. Sadly, I can't use this trick, since I STARTED on Hard, and dropping from that to Normal doesn't reset your world state.

But it's not much of a big deal. You can get 3 of the 5 portable port crystals before you meet the Duke (really early in the game), giving you a total of 6 locations if you include the 3 fixed portcrystals. And 8 by the time you're done with the run. That's enough to create a fairly comfortable fast travel network. And I already got the 30 Macabre Sculptures.

Interesting. I don't think I've ever found any macabre statue at all. I'm really close to level 50 now. I fled BBI after a short visit.

Mejilan · May 27, 2019

Tailzo said:
Interesting. I don't think I've ever found any macabre statue at all. I'm really close to level 50 now. I fled BBI after a short visit.

All 30 are scattered throughout BBI. Some are dead easy to find. But some are very nicely hidden. Some folks find it easier to grab 30 across two runs instead of getting all 30 in one. It's all the same to the game and the quest. Of course, if you do grab all 30 in your first run, once the quest pops up again in NG+ or whatever, you can insta-complete it by pulling out the 30 you already found from storage and getting the gold, xp, and rewards all over again.

Edit - It's actually three quests. Finding 10, 20, and all 30.

The Awesomest said:
I was originally a Ranger, but I've recently switched over to Mage. I loved staying at the back and sniping everyone, but I wasn't sure how much I could trust the AI to take over. The pawn I've hired now seems to favor her daggers.

It behooves you to have a well-rounded party in order to be prepared for any circumstances, but it's never actually required, IMO. Some folks flat-out play solo for the greatly increased challenge (and XP gains). There are even Augments specifically meant to boost solo runners.

Since hitting level 100, both my Arisen and Pawns are Sorcerers, and will remain so until they hit 200, since I'm building them both to be almost purely Magickally-specced (Arisen eventually to become a Magick Archer, Pawn to eventually become a support Mage). I'm in the mid-130s now, so I've been stuck with two Sorcs and a hired support Mage pawn for healing. I prefer having a Fighter or Warrior as my fourth because I feel they draw aggro better than a Strider or Ranger. But I've never, in all my runs, had such a magickally-orientated group before. I feel the pain, sometimes. But I'm getting by.

The Awesomest · May 27, 2019

I'm trying to make friends with Ophis. I've already fed her pet, but she just attacks me on sight. I killed her once by accident before receiving this quest. Is there any way to get her to talk to me?

Mejilan · May 27, 2019

The Awesomest said:
I'm trying to make friends with Ophis. I've already fed her pet, but she just attacks me on sight. I killed her once by accident before receiving this quest. Is there any way to get her to talk to me?

She loathes males. If you have any male members in your party, she will aggro on sight. If you have male pawns, release them before trying to talk to talk to her. If your Arisen is a male, buy a female full costume armor set from (I think, the Black Cat?) and wear it before meeting up with her. It'll fool her. If she's already aggro'ed, you'd best just kill her and her band, then proceed to rest at an in for either one week or two weeks straight (I forget). Dead NPCs respawn eventually, including both the male bandits band in the south and the female bandit band up north.

Mary Celeste · May 27, 2019

so... I should become a Magick Archer after maxing out Mage/Sorceror, right? I remember seeing talk about that earlier in the thread.

The Awesomest · May 27, 2019

Mejilan said:
She loathes males. If you have any male members in your party, she will aggro on sight. If you have male pawns, release them before trying to talk to talk to her. If your Arisen is a male, buy a female full costume armor set from (I think, the Black Cat?) and wear it before meeting up with her. It'll fool her. If she's already aggro'ed, you'd best just kill her and her band, then proceed to rest at an in for either one week or two weeks straight (I forget). Dead NPCs respawn eventually, including both the male bandits band in the south and the female bandit band up north.

Should've mentioned, I already disguised myself and only took along female pawns. The wiki said if I've killed her once she'll automatically aggro me. I'll try waiting for a week.

Mejilan · May 27, 2019

hughesta said:
so... I should become a Magick Archer after maxing out Mage/Sorceror, right? I remember seeing talk about that earlier in the thread.

IIRC, I started my Arisen off as a Strider for her first 10 levels, did 11-70 as an Assassin, 71-100 as a Magick Archer, and am now in the process of doing 101-200 as a Sorcerer. Once I hit 200, she'll be a pretty bad-ass Magick Archer for good, but one that can rely on purely physical daggers and still stand her ground for those foes that are highly resistant to magick.

If this is your first run, I'd say do whatever, experiment with the different Vocations, and just have fun. There's no content in this game, even in Hard Mode, that requires dedicated min-maxing of any sort. Stats are important, but gear makes up like 80% of any build. Which means you can pretty much completely fuck over your stats, and so long as have good gear for the Vocation you're currently playing, and have that gear appropriately dragonforged and rarified, nothing will present itself as a serious roadblock.

That said, if you've been putting the majority of your early (1-100) levels into the magick Vocations, but are getting bored with spell-slinging, then a Magick Archer is a perfect Vocation to shift into, since all of his/her magickal bow skills and a solid chunk of the MA-exclusive dagger skills scale off the magick stat, rather than the strength stat.

The Awesomest said:
Should've mentioned, I already disguised myself and only took along female pawns. The wiki said if I've killed her once she'll automatically aggro me. I'll try waiting for a week.

I'm almost completely positive that aggro can be reset. You may have to KILL them first, and then rest for however long it takes for them to respawn. All of the bandits are technically named NPCs, not regular mobs. So they respawn slower than regular enemies. I'm almost 100% sure that in my first PS3 run ages ago, I cleared out both bandit camps long before I realized they had sidequests associated with them, and yet still managed to get those sidequests done. But it's been many years since that run, and in my later PS4 runs and current Switch run, I've been careful to avoid aggroing them at all.

Edit - Did some quick Googling, and it sounds like killing her and resting for 8 full days (to be safe) should reset all aggro. Also, if you finished Maul's quest and got his badge, try leaving that in storage just in case. I don't think carrying that around would cause her to aggro, but just stash it to be safe before you try to visit her again.

The Awesomest · May 27, 2019

Mejilan said:
I'm almost completely positive that aggro can be reset. You may have to KILL them first, and then rest for however long it takes for them to respawn. All of the bandits are technically named NPCs, not regular mobs. So they respawn slower than regular enemies. I'm almost 100% sure that in my first PS3 run ages ago, I cleared out both bandit camps long before I realized they had sidequests associated with them, and yet still managed to get those sidequests done. But it's been many years since that run, and in my later PS4 runs and current Switch run, I've been careful to avoid aggroing them at all.

I'm now reading that if I carry her out of her hideout, she acts like a regular NPC, i.e. no aggroing men. I might try that too.

Mejilan · May 27, 2019

The Awesomest said:
I'm now reading that if I carry her out of her hideout, she acts like a regular NPC, i.e. no aggroing men. I might try that too.

I read that too. Sounds like you can pretty much murk her band, knock her down without killing her, manhandle her out of Heavenspeak Fort until the combat music ends, set her down, and have a window of opportunity to speak to her. Seems extreme, but if all else fails, go for it. It SHOULDN'T be necessary, but it's a way to go if you don't feel like leaving, resting for a week, and returning. If you do opt to rest for a week+, try to do so at the Gran Soren or Cassardis inns. The benches at BBI (certainly) and the tents at the various encampments (maybe) don't seem to progress time the same way that the regular inns do.

Chie Satonaka91 · May 27, 2019

Mejilan said:
She loathes males. If you have any male members in your party, she will aggro on sight. If you have male pawns, release them before trying to talk to talk to her. If your Arisen is a male, buy a female full costume armor set from (I think, the Black Cat?) and wear it before meeting up with her. It'll fool her. If she's already aggro'ed, you'd best just kill her and her band, then proceed to rest at an in for either one week or two weeks straight (I forget). Dead NPCs respawn eventually, including both the male bandits band in the south and the female bandit band up north.

What do I do of my own pawn is male? Can I disquise him?

Mejilan · May 27, 2019

Chie Satonaka91 said:
What do I do of my own pawn is male? Can I disquise him?

You can disguise your own Pawn the same way you'd disguise yourself.
Optionally, you can throw him off a cliff or into deep water and just not interact with a Rift Stone until you're done dealing with Ophis.

Mary Celeste · May 27, 2019

Mejilan said:
IIRC, I started my Arisen off as a Strider for her first 10 levels, did 11-70 as an Assassin, 71-100 as a Magick Archer, and am now in the process of doing 101-200 as a Sorcerer. Once I hit 200, she'll be a pretty bad-ass Magick Archer for good, but one that can rely on purely physical daggers and still stand her ground for those foes that are highly resistant to magick.

If this is your first run, I'd say do whatever, experiment with the different Vocations, and just have fun. There's no content in this game, even in Hard Mode, that requires dedicated min-maxing of any sort. Stats are important, but gear makes up like 80% of any build. Which means you can pretty much completely fuck over your stats, and so long as have good gear for the Vocation you're currently playing, and have that gear appropriately dragonforged and rarified, nothing will present itself as a serious roadblock.

Thanks for the answer! I started as a strider and once I maxed that out I maxed out assassin. Level 45 now and might try Ranger next, followed by Magic Archer. I dont think I really wanna do Mage at all really, the daggers are just so much fun to use and I never want to give up that double jump. Just wanted to know if going Magick Archer before another Magic using vocation was a bad idea.

Mejilan · May 27, 2019

hughesta said:
Thanks for the answer! I started as a strider and once I maxed that out I maxed out assassin. Level 45 now and might try Ranger next, followed by Magic Archer. I dont think I really wanna do Mage at all really, the daggers are just so much fun to use and I never want to give up that double jump. Just wanted to know if going Magick Archer before another Magic using vocation was a bad idea.

You're pretty much a third of the way into a pure physical build. Feel free to experiment with the Magick Archer once you're done with the Ranger, but don't be too disappointed by the shit damage your magickal bows will be doing. All of them scale off your magick stat, and Strider, Ranger, and Assassin all have physically-centric stat gains upon level up. Even the Magick Archer's magick stat gains are pretty shit. Magick Archer is probably the worst Vocation in the game for newcomers because of all the Vocations, it's the one that, in my opinion, depends most upon specific builds. And specifically building a Magick Archer sadly means not playing as one until you're pretty much done building him/her. In other words, it's the least intuitive character to build, and probably suffers the most from the kind of "fuck it, I'll do whatever I want" jack-of-all-trades build most new players wind up with after their first run.

Edit - You can definitely survive with a poorly built Magick Archer. Even thrive. But you'll absolutely need some of the best Magick Archer gear in the game to see any of the Vocation's potential realized. And at your levels, you're probably too low to tackle BBI and get that gear. Striders, Rangers, and Assassins benefit most from physical builds. Magick Archer is neutered by a physical build, and instead benefits most from the kind of magickal build you'd go for with Mages and Sorcerers.

Mary Celeste · May 27, 2019

Mejilan said:
You're pretty much a third of the way into a pure physical build. Feel free to experiment with the Magick Archer once you're done with the Ranger, but don't be too disappointed by the shit damage your magickal bows will be doing. All of them scale off your magick stat, and Strider, Ranger, and Assassin all have physically-centric stat gains upon level up. Even the Magick Archer's magick stat gains are pretty shit. Magick Archer is probably the worst Vocation in the game for newcomers because of all the Vocations, it's the one that, in my opinion, depends most upon specific builds. And specifically building a Magick Archer sadly means not playing as one until you're pretty much done building him/her. In other words, it's the least intuitive character to build, and probably suffers the most from the kind of "fuck it, I'll do whatever I want" jack-of-all-trades build most new players wind up with after their first run.

Edit - You can definitely survive with a poorly built Magick Archer. Even thrive. But you'll absolutely need some of the best Magick Archer gear in the game to see any of the Vocation's potential realized. And at your levels, you're probably too low to tackle BBI and get that gear.

good to know, thank you for the timely and detailed responses!

Mejilan · May 27, 2019

hughesta said:
good to know, thank you for the timely and detailed responses!

You're welcome. I made some edits to the post you quoted, FYI. Clarifying some things and expanding upon my reasoning.

Grewitch · May 28, 2019

Well, this game continues to surprise me. The other night we were walking past Madeline's shop and I saw a guy peering through the window, checking her out. At first I thought he was a perv, but he stood there in the evening oblivious to everyone around him for such a long time, that I realized he was smitten.

He straightened up when I got close to him, seemed befuddled, and walked away. I felt sorry for disturbing him and sad because to Madeline, he doesn't exist at all. And then I looked through the window and saw her there and realized, there was no difference between that man and I. I went about my business, bemused.

I'm currently at Level 37, I think? Once Roya hits level 46 she'll transition to a Ranger and I'll finally be able to use those two BBI weapons I was gifted.

I'm playing sporadically due to work and fasting, but managing to get a session in one day a week. Thanks for reading, and be safe out there.

Mejilan · May 28, 2019

Holy shit, would some kind soul please rent out my Pawn (Ahamet, NNID Mejilan) and gift us a bright virid scale? Been plugging away at Thunderwyrms in BBI to no avail. I can kill them, but I'm still weak enough that each fight takes a solid 10 minutes or more (on Hard Mode) and it just will not drop. And I haven't been able to reload the fight because each one has managed to dragonforge something I'm working on or finally drop the last dragon tear I was missing.

I can dupe more. Just need the one!

saboar · May 28, 2019

Mejilan said:
Holy shit, would some kind soul please rent out my Pawn (Ahamet, NNID Mejilan) and gift us a bright virid scale? Been plugging away at Thunderwyrms in BBI to no avail. I can kill them, but I'm still weak enough that each fight takes a solid 10 minutes or more (on Hard Mode) and it just will not drop. And I haven't been able to reload the fight because each one has managed to dragonforge something I'm working on or finally drop the last dragon tear I was missing.

I can dupe more. Just need the one!

I sent you one. Hopefully it went through.

Mejilan · May 28, 2019

saboar said:
I sent you one. Hopefully it went through.

You're a godsend. I'll check tomorrow night.
Thank you very much!

Mejilan · May 29, 2019

saboar said:
I sent you one. Hopefully it went through.

It did. Again, thank you. I'm very much obliged.

Dranakin · May 29, 2019

Had this for my PS3, but never played it. I'd like to pick this up for the Switch, but is this a kind of game you can play without looking anything up (i.e. things are explained in-game)?

Mejilan · May 29, 2019

Dranakin said:
Had this for my PS3, but never played it. I'd like to pick this up for the Switch, but is this a kind of game you can play without looking anything up (i.e. things are explained in-game)?

Ehhh, not really. There's a brief tutorial at the beginning which teaches you the basic controls and introduces some elements of combat, the Pawn system, how to equip gear and use items, and serves as something of a story prologue that pays off much later. But other than that, you're pretty much on your own. It's a game of exploration first and foremost, and that goes for mechanics as much as it does the continent of Gransys.

The game does NOT tell you, for example, how much of each stat you'll gain for every level up, numbers which vary wildly from Vocation to Vocation. If you're even remotely interested in min-maxing stats, you'll have to wiki-dive or hit up a stat/build calculator. But please note, min-maxing isn't even remotely required to clear everything this game has to offer, even in Hard Mode or NG+.

The campaign is loosely broken up into perhaps 7 or 8 unofficial stages, most of which are NOT telegraphed, many of which serve as silent points of no return for one or more sidequests. So if you care about knocking out all sidequests, once again, you'll have to wiki-dive to learn when the breakpoints occur and which sidequests go out-of-bounds at each breakpoint. Thankfully, you can Google up a list which only spoils quest names, not story details or quest solutions.

That said, the game more or less invites you to just go along for the ride and have fun. If you're not a min-maxer or completionist, I wouldn't worry about any of this. I'm both, so I usually have a page or two up guiding me along to make sure I don't fuck something up (and this is like my sixth run through the game across three different platforms, now). Even so, there are WAY worse games out there for those that worry about min-maxing stats or hitting 100% completion in a single playthrough (or as much as a game allows).

Razor Mom · May 30, 2019

Anyone from the UK know a decent way of getting the physical release without breaking the bank?

Mejilan · May 30, 2019

Razor Mom said:
Anyone from the UK know a decent way of getting the physical release without breaking the bank?

How about Play-Asia?

https://www.play-asia.com/dragons-dogma-dark-arisen/13/70chvb

Razor Mom · May 30, 2019

Mejilan said:
How about Play-Asia?

https://www.play-asia.com/dragons-dogma-dark-arisen/13/70chvb

That's fantastic, is that the full price or is there ridiculously expensive shipping or taxes ontop?

Mejilan · May 30, 2019

Razor Mom said:
That's fantastic, is that the full price or is there ridiculously expensive shipping or taxes ontop?

I have no idea. I live in the U.S., so I just ordered my copy via Amazon.
But I Googled your question and saw they were recommended elsewhere for Europeans looking for a physical copy.

Dranakin · May 31, 2019

Mejilan said:
Ehhh, not really. There's a brief tutorial at the beginning which teaches you the basic controls and introduces some elements of combat, the Pawn system, how to equip gear and use items, and serves as something of a story prologue that pays off much later. But other than that, you're pretty much on your own. It's a game of exploration first and foremost, and that goes for mechanics as much as it does the continent of Gransys.

The game does NOT tell you, for example, how much of each stat you'll gain for every level up, numbers which vary wildly from Vocation to Vocation. If you're even remotely interested in min-maxing stats, you'll have to wiki-dive or hit up a stat/build calculator. But please note, min-maxing isn't even remotely required to clear everything this game has to offer, even in Hard Mode or NG+.

The campaign is loosely broken up into perhaps 7 or 8 unofficial stages, most of which are NOT telegraphed, many of which serve as silent points of no return for one or more sidequests. So if you care about knocking out all sidequests, once again, you'll have to wiki-dive to learn when the breakpoints occur and which sidequests go out-of-bounds at each breakpoint. Thankfully, you can Google up a list which only spoils quest names, not story details or quest solutions.

That said, the game more or less invites you to just go along for the ride and have fun. If you're not a min-maxer or completionist, I wouldn't worry about any of this. I'm both, so I usually have a page or two up guiding me along to make sure I don't fuck something up (and this is like my sixth run through the game across three different platforms, now). Even so, there are WAY worse games out there for those that worry about min-maxing stats or hitting 100% completion in a single playthrough (or as much as a game allows).

Ah, thanks for sharing. Sounds like this type of game is difficult to play thoroughly on an airplane or the like...

Mejilan · May 31, 2019

Dranakin said:
Ah, thanks for sharing. Sounds like this type of game is difficult to play thoroughly on an airplane or the like...

It's possible, but the game chews through your battery in 2.5 - 3 hours. And you'll need online connectivity to access the Rift World and hire decent Pawns to fill out your party of four. You only have two characters by default, your Arisen and the Pawn you create that's bound to him/her. There are offline Pawns for those moments when you don't have a connection, but they're randomly generated and generally awful.

Kanann · Jun 2, 2019

As promise, my pawn reached lv 100 now, and half of her gears are kind of end game.

I build her as Fighter, if you want me to get rid of shield drum just tell.

b00_thegh0st · Jun 2, 2019

Razor Mom said:
That's fantastic, is that the full price or is there ridiculously expensive shipping or taxes ontop?

Just so you know:

Operationgamer17 said:
To clarify before we get started: I made this thread to act as a warning.

Anyway, A while ago, Play Asia tweeted THIS out:

After that, Liam Robertson told them he wasn't giving them any more of his business. (Tweets are currently protected, so I can't provide it).
And then right after that, they were revealed to be sicing their followers on people who call them out on stuff like this.

Yeah. I would be AGAINST supporting this site if I were you. This is NOT acceptable.

Mejilan · Jun 2, 2019

b00_thegh0st said:
Just so you know:

Yikes. Had no idea about their history. I apologize for even suggesting them.
I don't THINK I ever used them for anything, but if I did, it was so many years ago, that I honestly don't remember what, if anything, I imported through them.
I tend to use well-rated Amazon third-party resellers for the few JP imports I buy.

b00_thegh0st · Jun 2, 2019

Mejilan said:
Yikes. Had no idea about their history. I apologize for even suggesting them.
I don't THINK I ever used them for anything, but if I did, it was so many years ago, that I honestly don't remember what, if anything, I imported through them.
I tend to use well-rated Amazon third-party resellers for the few JP imports I buy.

I know. I used to import from them too in the PS2/DS days. Luckily it has become a lot easier to get Japanese products nowadays.

calloumiii · Jun 3, 2019

I've beaten this game countless times beforehand (both vanilla and DA on PS3, and also on PS4), but getting it again on the Switch had managed to breathe new life into it yet again. Playing a game as expansive as DDDA on a handheld is like a dream come true. I'm making my way through the game happily, having just met the duke for the first time, but one thing I've noticed in comparison to the other systems is there's a lack of pawns available online - I'm not sure if this is just due to the game being out for a short amount of time, or if this port just didn't sell too well? Here's hoping the former, because this game deserves to sell as much as possible.

Mejilan · Jun 3, 2019

I haven't really had any issues finding pawns. But I added pretty much everyone from this thread and our Google Sheet, so that's like 70 folks right there. Now that I'm hitting the 170s, admittedly, I've left most of Era behind. But I can still pull up some decently-built randos at my level for 0 cost. And yeah, my third time with the game too. First PS3 (platinumed), then PS4 (platinumed again), and now on Switch. It's amazing as a portable title.

Mejilan · Jun 4, 2019

Oaklight, you added yourself to the Google Sheet some time ago but I've never seen you post here. I'd love to hire out your level 200 pawn, and have sent you a friend request. My NNID should show up the same as my username here. Please accept the request, if you would.

calloumiii · Jun 5, 2019

I've gone ahead and added my pawn to the google doc now - she's served me well, but nobody's given her a chance yet and I'd really like to rack up some rift crystals so I can buy some of the extra cosmetic bits and pieces and save up ready for BBI, so if someone's feeling generous, it'd be appreciated. She's only level 47 right now, but we've just finished every sidequest possible before the big fight with Grigori so I'd say we're doing pretty well!

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