Dragon's Dogma HD Thread: This dragon sure loves to talk, eh?

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Dragon's Dogma HD Thread: This dragon sure loves to talk, eh?

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Genocyber: Jun 4, 2012

BattleTech posted:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lUyXgocroAVa6dR06-6dO3NgWH44tBa_zzvQrargbKg/edit?usp=sharing

New ps4/xb1 pawn sharing doc.

REQUIRED LISTENING FOR READING THE OP :siren:

I. What is Dragon's Dogma?
Originally released in 2012 for the PS3/360, Dragon's Dogma is Capcom's foray into the open world action RPG genre. It saw a re-release with the Dark Arisen version in 2013, expanding the game with the new Bitterblack Isle area, and including all previously released DLC. Now that version is seeing a PC port, with a bevy of graphical options, good performance (1080p60 even on older hardware), supporting up to 150 fps, and lacking the terrible forced letterboxing of the console versions.

:siren:

It's now out on PS4 and XBO! :siren:

No clue what the performance is like but I'd be surprised at anything less than 1080p60.

II. Welcome to Dragon's Dogma

Gransys, a small duchy located on the eastern portion of the Liogran Peninsula and ruled by the eminent duke Edmun Dragonsbane. Hailing from the coastal fishing village of Cassardis, you were going about your daily life when your village was attacked by the vicious Dragon. Marked by the Dragon as Arisen, it is now your fate to face the Dragon and stay the coming apocalypse-by-fire.

...Or not. The Dragon's a bit lazy at his job and Gransys is pretty much an open book, so feel free to go wherever. Traipse across the country side and explore a variety of dungeons filled with all sorts of nasty beasts, throw people you don't like off of cliffs, collect apples with a variety of methods: the world is your oyster.

For as open as it is, Gransys is also fraught with danger. Monsters infest every corner of the land and bandits roam the countryside, looking for lone adventurers to ambush and loot. Fortunate then that the Arisen never need be alone, as one of the perks of being marked by the Dragon is command of the Pawn Legion.

III. The Pawn System

Ephemeral travelers from a myriad of worlds, Pawns are emotionless mercenaries that sell their services to the highest bidder. But to Arisen they offer their services freely. As the Arisen you have a Main Pawn that you may customize freely, both in appearance and combat ability; your Pawn will learn from the actions you take as you kill monsters and complete quests, can be altered more directly via the Pawn Guild in the capital of Gran Soren, and its Inclinations (how its AI reacts to stuff) can be directly altered through special potions. Additionally, you can conscript up to two other Pawns to join your adventuring party, either by meeting them in your journeys across Gransys, or by entering the Rift through one of many Rift Crystals scattered throughout the land.

The Pawn system is where this game's online features come into force. As unfortunate as it is, this game has no true co-op system, as awesome as that would be (there is however co-op in the pseudo-sequel Dragon's Dogma Online, so it is possible there will be in a potential true sequel). Instead, you can aid other players via your Main Pawn. You can offer up the services of your Pawn to other players, and conscript other players' Pawns to join your party (this doesn't remove the Main Pawn from a player's game). Player Pawns offer the advantage of (hopefully) more focused stat development and a (hopefully well-made) more fine-tuned AI, as well as a greater variety in appearance. Want to fight side by side with Obama and Griffith? There are probably players with them as Pawns. For offering your Pawn's services to other players, you gain Rift Crystals when they are returned, based on the amount of EXP your Pawn would have earned. Additionally, your Pawn gains knowledge of any new monsters or quests done while in the other player's world, making them more of an aid in those situations.

As an aside, you cannot pick up random Pawns without restriction. Computer-generated Pawns will be limited to your level, and your pick of player Pawns will be as well. If you are friends with the maker of that Pawn, however, the level restriction is removed. To that end, I've made a Google doc that you can freely edit to add the relevant info if you want to share your Pawn with others. I've added PS3 and 360 entries as well, for those who wish to play again but cannot play the PC port, since the one in the console thread is old and run-down. (Probably should have put it in a more prominent position. Probably better to just use the Steam group, i.e. Friend anyone in that to use their pawn.)

IV. The Combat
Fancy words aside, the combat system in Dragon's Dogma is hands down one of the best I've ever had the pleasure to play this side of a character action game. Designed by the staff responsible for Devil May Cry 3 and 4, there is a surprising amount of depth, with different basic combos depending on how fast you do successive attacks, the ability to string special moves along with these basic combos, and jump cancelling. But if you're not the type to practice and master an in-depth system, there is no need to worry; you can rely entirely on the basic melee combos and special attacks separately and have a good time. As for the special attacks themselves, there is a huge variety across all available Vocations (classes), letting you do things like:

Blow enemies up at a distance

Clump enemies together like you're the Prince of all Cosmos

Cause the very earth around you to erupt

Pancake the enemy into the ground

Another thing this game does better than almost any other is large creature combat. Whereas in other titles you have to be content to hack at their shins until they collapse from blood loss, in Dragon's Dogma you can skitter all over the larger monsters like you're an insect, and stab repeatedly at vital points to make them collapse in agony.

Rogues Gallery (not comprehensive)
GRIFFIN

CHIMERA

HYDRA

CYCLOPS

GOLEM

DRAKE

OGRE

WIGHT

COCKATRICE

EVIL EYE

V. Character Creation
Another thing Dragon's Dogma executes brilliantly is its character creation system. You can full customize both yourself and your Main Pawn, and rather than forcing you to rely on unreliable sliders, it gives you a multitude of preset choices for every feature, in some instances allowing you to edit other factors like their exact positioning. In additional to editing facial features, you can also customize your character's body type; want to play as a short and stocky dwarve, or a tall and thin elf? Not only will the game let you do it, but it will actually affect how your character plays; small and light characters can't carry as much weight, but move faster and regenerate their stamina more quickly, with large and heavy characters being the opposite.

Due to the ease of use and large amount of customization the game gives you, it is very easy to make facsimiles of both real people and fictional characters. If you've made such a pawn (or you have a particularly good/freakish custom one) feel free to post it in the thread or PM me and I'll add it to the Goon Pawn Showcase below.

VI. Vocations
Vocations are what this game calls classes. There are nine Vocations available to the player (and six to pawns). You start off with a basic Vocation chosen at the time of character creation. Once you have reached level 10, you may purchase Advanced and Hybrid Vocations with Discipline Points (DP), and once purchased you may freely switch between them while at an Inn. Vocations are leveled separately from your character's level; whenever you gain EXP, you gain a certain amount of DP that is a percentage of the EXP earned (with the specific percentage being greater the smaller amount of EXP earned). When you have earned enough DP as that Vocation, it will increase in rank, allowing you to purchase more abilities with the DP that you've earned.

It is often asked which Vocations are the best, and which are the best to play as as a new player. The answer is whatever ones you want to play as. While min/maxing your stat growths (when you level the stats you gain depend on what Vocation you are at the time of leveling) is certainly helpful, it is by no means necessary, and playing as a variety of Vocations is more beneficial due to Augments. These are abilities that can only be learned in a specific Vocation, but once earned can be used on any (compared to other abilities which are Vocation-specific).

Base Vocations
FIGHTER

Adept melee fighters wielding sword (or mace) and shield. Equally skilled at offense or defense, these frontline fighters are dependable whether versus a horde of smaller enemies or a single large one.

STRIDER

Quick and agile rangers that utilize dagger and bow. They are effective at striking airborne opponents and are especially adept at taking down large creatures, due to their ability to target weak points with their bow and arrows, and their ability to clamber around bodies and hack at the weak points with their daggers.

MAGE

Masters of the arcane arts. Poor frontline fighters (although they can defend themselves in a pinch with quick-casting melee range magic) but capable of dishing out more damage than either the Fighter or the Strider if given the time and distance to cast a spell. Also have access to a variety of support spells (such as healing) for the party.

Advanced Vocations
WARRIOR

Powerful longsword or war hammer wielding fighters that have eschewed defense for overwhelming offense. Possess some of the hardest-hitting single strike melee attacks in the game, and are excellent at taking on groups or larger creatures due to their terrifying strength. As they only use a single weapon, they are limited to three abilities.

RANGER

Striders that have focused more on their marksmanship than their dagger skills. Possess a greater number of bow abilities but less dagger abilities than the strider, they focus primarily on ranged combat.

SORCERER

Mages that have focused on destructive power over utility. Lack support spells but possess some of the most damaging and coolest-looking spells in the game, as well as a few debuff spells.

Hybrid Vocations (not available to Pawns)
ASSASSIN

Quick and agile fighters capable of wielding sword, mace, dagger, bow, and shield. Though lacking the most potent abilities of these weapons available to Fighters and Striders, they more than make up for it with sheer variety, as well as a few potent class-specific moves. Probably my favorite class to play as.

MYSTIC KNIGHT

Knights that have mastered the arcane arts, they wield sword or mace in combination with greatshields. Equally strong in both melee and magick, they are masters of offense and defense, and have access to some truly unique abilities.

MAGICK ARCHER

Archers that dabble in magic, they have some of the most novel abilities in the game, ranging from the ability to sacrifice one of your Pawns, returning them to the Rift, for a powerful arrow shot, to clustering enemies together with a whirlwind. They also possess some of the most overpowered abilities in the game. To compensate, they have especially poor stat growths in all but Magic Defense, so to get the most out of this class, it is best to level for a while as Sorcerer first.

Genocyber fucked around with this message at 21:28 on Oct 3, 2017

# ? Jan 11, 2016 01:17

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# ? Apr 25, 2024 00:13

Genocyber: Jun 4, 2012

Helpful Tips

Probably best to play online so you can see other players' Pawns walking the roads of Gransys (and also recruit them).
Goblins hate fire!
Character creation affects how your character plays a bit (for more detailed info see this page on the wiki).
Don't feel locked to a single or a set of Vocations. Want to switch from a Fighter to a Sorcerer? Your magic will suffer for a time, but you'll quickly gain levels and until you can hold your own your Pawns can pick up the slack.
You can grab many an object, including enemies if they are small. Fighters and Warrior are especially adept at this and can hold foes still for followup attacks from party members.
Wolves hunt in packs, Arisen.
Augments are some of the most useful abilities you can purchase from a Vocation, as they are not restricted to certain Vocations like the other abilities.
Part of the DLC included in this release is a bunch of items added to your storage. One in particular has no particular use but sells for ~300k gold. Selling this early on will allow you to make all the purchases you could desire for a good while, if you're not into scrounging up money "legitimately."
Organic items age over time. Before rotting completely, they become moldy/sour and far more valuable, seeing a boost in selling price and item effectiveness. You can combine these with Sealed Flasks to create a Kept version that will last forever. If you don't use the above tip to make money, selling partially-rotted items is the next best thing.
You can combine lots of things together, either from the inventory or at any item storage place. This is worthwhile, as you can make rare or otherwise unobtainable items. An especially good recipe early on is Moldy Grapes + Flask of Water, which produces Red Wine, a potent healing item early on.
Strength in numbers, Arisen.
If you're playing with kb+m, you can use number keys 1-5 to hotkey consumable items. This will save you a lot of inventory rummaging.
You can change Vocations only at the Gran Soren Inn or at Olra on Bitterblack Isle, and only once you reach level 10.
The end-game/DLC are (included automatically in this version) of Bitterblack Isle can be accessed from the Cassardis Docks at night, pretty much right from the start of the game. If you're feeling brave, you can try and explore its depths early for some really good loot. Or you can just make a quick stop to change your Vocation early on.
If you want your Pawn hired by other players, make them either a hot lady or an ugly (but sensible) abomination. I've had the most luck with these types of Pawns.
Take care you aren't soaked in water!
There are two types of side quests. Important ones that you receive from NPCs directly, and generic ones you pick up at Notice Boards. For the former, always pick them up and do them ASAP if you want to complete them. Progressing the main story will make you automatically fail a number of (but not all) quests introduced up to that point. Additionally, some early quests are necessary to get later quests with good rewards. Probably the most important ones to do are Lost and Found (head towards Cassardis after slaying the Hydra) and Chasing Shadows (bug Mason in Gran Soren after getting the Lure of the Abyss main quest).
For Notice Board quests, pick up all "slay x monsters" quests. You'll more likely than not complete these as you progress through the game. Do "bring x item(s) to y" if you want; they can have good rewards but aren't a necessity. Do NOT do escort quests. They are garbage and the NPC involved will probably die. Only pick them up if you have a fast travel location right at the destination, as you can warp right to it.
Sometime after slaying the Hydra, you'll be able to purchase special items from a merchant in the Encampment. These include more color options for the character creator, the ability to fully customize your character, and potions to alter your Pawn's inclinations.

Since it can be a bit confusing, here is how saving works.

year199X posted:

Manually saving and reloading will plop you at the start of the area, but you should still keep all your progress (in terms of exp or inventory).

Checkpoint saves return you to the last time you rested at an inn, there's only a few reasons you would want to do that. Basically never go back to your checkpoint unless you really know what you're doing.

The game will also autosave when you go to a new area.

Everfall and the Ur-Dragon

After killing the Dragon (no this is not a spoiler) you gain access to the pit of infinite depth that is the Everfall. Composed of numerous arena-like chambers and corridors, it houses the most dangerous monsters in the game outside of Bitterblack Isle. It also offers some of the most powerful loot in the game, again outside of Bitterblack Isle.

Its most unique feature is the Ur-Dragon, a massive beast with hearts all over its body, fought by all Arisen. If you're in online mode, when you enter its chamber, you will receive a copy of the Ur-Dragon from the server that will hang around for around ten minutes. In that time you must deal as much damage as possible, before it flies off. This damage will then be uploaded to the server. When the Ur-Dragon reaches 0 HP there will be a short grace period, where the copy you receive is nearly dead. If you destroy all of its heart before it flies off, you will receive a bounty of powerful loot, much of it specific to this fight. After the grace period is over, the Ur-Dragon is replaced with one slightly stronger, and so the cycle repeats. On console it has reached into the hundreds, and now requires specialized builds to have a chance to kill it. So if you want to do this do it early.

If you're in offline mode there is a weaker and static version generated that you can kill. Should you succeed you will also receive unique loot, although not as powerful as the loot from the online Ur-Dragon.

Bitterblack Isle

An island known only to the Arisen, can be accessed via a boat in Cassardis at night after fighting the Hydra in the Encampment. A multi-level sprawling dungeon filled with some of the most dangerous monsters in the game. Though it can be accessed earlier, the recommended minimum level for tackling this is 50, though even if you're considerably higher it will still prove challenging. If you're brave enough to explore its depth early on, you can obtain some truly powerful loot that will last you the entire game.

Unique to this area are unknown items that must be purified by Olga at the entrance of BBI. Good explanation from Kiggles as to how this works.

Kiggles posted:

I looked into this more, and basically what happens is that as soon as you FIRST enter BBI your save is tagged with random seeds for each cursed item type (Cursed gear lv 1, Curse gear lv 2 etc, all get their own seed). Each time you purify an item of those individual categores the seed for that category is incremented by 1.

The only things that matter are:

A) what class you and your pawn are when purifying - (each seed has a table of possible results for each seed number, that 'guarantees' the results will be something you or your pawn can use)
B) how many of a given cursed item of a given category you have purified.

In otherwords, I was wrong earlier in the thread. There is literally no point to gifting cursed items while you wait for a cursed item to pop what you want. In fact, it is counter-productive, and the only way to expedite getting what you want is to get more cursed items of the given category and purify them. Since you often can not gift the results I'm pretty upset; it basically completely undermines the entire premise of being able to gift cursed chunks.

The example you quoted isn't quite correct. You can 'bypass' results by class changing. According to Zore's example noble limbs will always be the next yellow cursed lv 1 result, but that isn't true. If you class change to red or blue you will naturally get different results. If you then purify another cursed weapon lv 1 as yellow the result (might) not be Noble Limbs. The category seed was advanced in the previous purification producing different Cursed Weapon lv 1 results.

Summary:
-Dismiss hired pawns.
-Save before purifying.
-Class change your character and your pawn to both be of the same class category (Red, Blue, or Yellow) before purifying.
-If results are crap, godsbane and change to other class categories.
-Rinse repeat for the third class color category.
-Didn't get ANYTHING you wanted. Sell the results.
-Do not gift, discard, or sell a single purified chunk of a particular item category until you get everything from that cursed type category (weapon lv 1, and weapon lv 2, etc are different categories with their own seed). - You MUST purify cursed items of a given category in order to advance the seed for that particular cursed item category.
-Only gift away cursed items in a given category after you obtain everything you want from that category.

Genocyber fucked around with this message at 22:18 on Jan 29, 2016

# ? Jan 11, 2016 01:17

Genocyber: Jun 4, 2012

Goon Pawn Showcase
Undyne by Everdraed

Tobias Funke by Lasher

Ganondorf by Heroic Yoshimitsu

Snape by Mr. Funktastic

Johnny Five Aces by Huszsersvn

Seinfeld and Costanza by Im_Special

Saitama by AgentJR

David Bowie (rip) by Mr. Swoon

Brad Armstrong by Trick Question

Genocyber fucked around with this message at 17:20 on Feb 14, 2016

# ? Jan 11, 2016 01:17

FactsAreUseless: Feb 16, 2011

This game is an amazing game, and the PC version looks fantastic. Anyone who has not played it, or has played it, should play it.

# ? Jan 11, 2016 01:18

eonwe: Aug 11, 2008; Lipstick Apathy

im going to buy this on PC, OP

# ? Jan 11, 2016 01:20

CJacobs: Apr 17, 2011; Reach for the moon!

Hell yeah, you went with my title suggestion. Excellent. I am looking forward to playing this again.

# ? Jan 11, 2016 01:28

Ciaphas: Nov 20, 2005; > BEWARE, COWARD

I tried this on console and just got bored in an hour and a half. Don't exactly remember why, but I'm beginning to suspect it was because it was on a console and I'm an addict to alt-tab :v:

So I'm looking forward to giving this another go.

Question, are Sorcerers actually fun to play? I like the videos of their gigantically destructive spells, that's always been my preferred MO in RPGs.

# ? Jan 11, 2016 01:30

Genocyber: Jun 4, 2012

Ciaphas posted:

I tried this on console and just got bored in an hour and a half. Don't exactly remember why, but I'm beginning to suspect it was because it was on a console and I'm an addict to alt-tab So I'm looking forward to giving this another go.

Question, are Sorcerers actually fun to play? I like the videos of their gigantically destructive spells, that's always been my preferred MO in RPGs.

Sorcerers are less active than the other vocations since spells are mostly about finding the enough time to cast them mid-combat, though there certainly is some tactical aspects like choosing which of your spells to use in each situation. I still find them quite fun to play, but it's not to everyone's tastes.

# ? Jan 11, 2016 01:32

Babe Magnet: Jun 2, 2008

"evil eye" is a Beholder you uncultured dunce

jk good op

# ? Jan 11, 2016 01:33

Wrestlepig: Feb 25, 2011; my mum says im cool; Toilet Rascal

If it was a beholder there would be traeemark issues, so it obviously isn't.

# ? Jan 11, 2016 01:42

Fereydun: May 9, 2008

https://mega.nz/#!v1omECyS!16VUyDhyhMPARQf98hXNTjMlJd1ndbIXGGc0IRrZYu4

this supposedly restores dangan for the intro in the pirated version
probably will require an unpack/repack of the title music .arc in the main version as it's the sound file by itself (but maybe not)

# ? Jan 11, 2016 01:44

The Marauder: Dec 1, 2013; Why walk out when you can outrun?

I'm very glad to see this great game ported to PC - I just hope that silly issues like support for uncommon resolutions don't go unfixed.

Looking forward to seeing what monstrosities we get to see created as pawns.

# ? Jan 11, 2016 01:45

Shuka: Dec 19, 2000

I remember reading about this game coming out, and searching in vain to see if it had a PC release. After its launch I would sometimes read a page from the DD thread, wistfully, thinking a port would be so cool.

And here it is, now, in its full glory and I am so, so tempted to buy it, but hesitate. I'm sure I'm not the only one, many of you must be as frugal and probably more so than I, and try to only buy games on sale on steam.

This might be the only game I pay full price for, but it won't happen now. Maybe in a couple few weeks, when I am weaker and desperation grips me with its slimy mandibles.

# ? Jan 11, 2016 01:51

CJacobs: Apr 17, 2011; Reach for the moon!

Shuka posted:

I remember reading about this game coming out, and searching in vain to see if it had a PC release. After its launch I would sometimes read a page from the DD thread, wistfully, thinking a port would be so cool.

And here it is, now, in its full glory and I am so, so tempted to buy it, but hesitate. I'm sure I'm not the only one, many of you must be as frugal and probably more so than I, and try to only buy games on sale on steam.

This might be the only game I pay full price for, but it won't happen now. Maybe in a couple few weeks, when I am weaker and desperation grips me with its slimy mandibles.

Good news, it's only 30 bucks, which is half of the standard new game/port price these days!

# ? Jan 11, 2016 01:55

lets hang out: Jan 10, 2015

# ? Jan 11, 2016 01:59

Pierson: Oct 31, 2004; College Slice

I loved this on Xbox and I'll love it here.

Remind me though wasn't there a specific 'way' to play if you wanted to skip normal and go straight into hard mode? It involved leveling to some arbitrary point, then restarting, and somehow your stats/character would carry across?

Also did the old thread have information on which classes to take at which level to make good builds? The game has a pretty in-depth stat-building system.

Pierson fucked around with this message at 02:05 on Jan 11, 2016

# ? Jan 11, 2016 02:01

The Marauder: Dec 1, 2013; Why walk out when you can outrun?

Pierson posted:

I loved this on Xbox and I'll love it here.

Remind me though wasn't there a specific 'way' to play if you wanted to skip normal and go straight into hard mode? It involved leveling to some arbitrary point, then restarting, and somehow your stats/character would carry across?

Also did the old thread have information on which classes to take at which level to make good builds? The game has a pretty in-depth stat-building system.

Wiki page relevant to your interests: http://dragonsdogma.wikia.com/wiki/Stat_Growths

Stat calculator which may be helpful to you: http://stackoverflow.github.io/dragons-dogma-stat-planner/

I believe that hard mode is available from the start in the PC version. It had to be unlocked in the original release.

# ? Jan 11, 2016 02:07

Pierson: Oct 31, 2004; College Slice

You're good people, Marauder.

# ? Jan 11, 2016 02:11

Kiggles: Dec 30, 2007

The Marauder posted:

I'm very glad to see this great game ported to PC - I just hope that silly issues like support for uncommon resolutions don't go unfixed.

Looking forward to seeing what monstrosities we get to see created as pawns.

Keep an eye on Flawless Widescreen.. Sounds like they're not supporting "odd" aspect ratios because the hud elements are fixed, but this is usually something FW has presets made to fix, including triplehead/eyefinity multi monitor setups that allow the hud elements to remain on the center, or be pushed out on to the other displays, and usually FOV correction for the wider aspects.

It can be hit or miss, though, but worth checking. Just note, there may still end up being issues that pop up, like broken full screen effects or something that only cover part (center or top left) of the screen. All depends on how the game was designed and whether contributors can get around to fixing those exceptions.

Ciaphas posted:

I tried this on console and just got bored in an hour and a half. Don't exactly remember why,

Probably because it does get boring around that point. It definitely slows down for a good while, but mostly because the game opens up and you're at liberty to do a bunch of stuff. Available main quests aren't terribly interesting, either. Just use that time to get to Gran Soren, change classes and fiddle around. Once you find a class that clicks. Just note, it that can take a while in its own right, since some classes don't come into their own until you get to some of the later class defining skills.

# ? Jan 11, 2016 02:18

Im_Special: Jan 2, 2011; Look At This!!! WOW!
It's F*cking Nothing.

Steam Group for Dragon's Dogma, it should make life easier seeing who's online, and where all those random friend invites are coming from later down the road. Can even put in a Google spreadsheet for characters there and mark it as private viewing, if we do something like that.

Just post in here or PM me your Steam Profile for an invite.

Oh, and showing off why Dragon's Dogma has the most perfect character creator.

:siren:

Im_Special posted:

Hey new rule to invites, if you want one, and you have the ability to PM, you PM me for an invite, hopefully this will cut back on the pointless spam in this thread. Also less chance of me missing you this way if/when this thread picks up with pages of Waifu pic's.

Im_Special fucked around with this message at 13:16 on Jan 15, 2016

# ? Jan 11, 2016 02:21

The Marauder: Dec 1, 2013; Why walk out when you can outrun?

Kiggles posted:

Keep an eye on Flawless Widescreen.. Sounds like they're not supporting "odd" aspect ratios because the hud elements are fixed, but this is usually something FW has presets made to fix, including triplehead/eyefinity multi monitor setups that allow the hud elements to remain on the center, or be pushed out on to the other displays, and usually FOV correction for the wider aspects.

It can be hit or miss, though, but worth checking. Just note, there may still end up being issues that pop up, like broken full screen effects or something that only cover part (center or top left) of the screen. All depends on how the game was designed and whether contributors can get around to fixing those exceptions.

Will do, thanks! I don't expect perfection - as long as game renders correctly and the HUD isn't stretched out to the point of looking terrible I'm happy. It still boggles my mind that this is still even a concern in 2016, though.

# ? Jan 11, 2016 02:25

Crimson Harvest: Jul 14, 2004; I'm a GENERAL, not some opera floozy!

I got this for $22.50 US on GMG with their current coupon.

# ? Jan 11, 2016 02:28

Kiggles: Dec 30, 2007

Crimson Harvest posted:

I got this for $22.50 US on GMG with their current coupon.

Anyone wondering can probably try code: 25PERC-2016GM-WTHGMG

# ? Jan 11, 2016 02:31

Saxophone: Sep 19, 2006

Ground floor.

Also:

# ? Jan 11, 2016 02:34

Your Moms Ahegao: Sep 3, 2008

For new players I would actually recommend ignoring all billboard quests unless you feel they are super easy/worth the money. The game sets them up like those are suppose to be your focus instead of the main storyline, but there is good chance you will just burn out or get bored running across the world trying to check them off, and they are mostly killing the same boring stuff over and over.

Dragons Dogma is a deceptively massive game, every time you think you have seen everything to offer it will up the ante in a way I don't think even Dark Souls managed. You will want to keep that momentum instead of billboard tedium.

Racing through the main game as fast as possible will also get you to Bitter Black Isle sooner. Which cuts away the fat of a story, characters, quests, travel, etc taking the best aspects of the game and just turning into one huge dungeon crawl, it's incredible and absolutely better then the main game.

# ? Jan 11, 2016 02:43

lets hang out: Jan 10, 2015

you can go to bitterblack less than an hour after starting the game

# ? Jan 11, 2016 02:44

Genocyber: Jun 4, 2012

Monomythian posted:

For new players I would actually recommend ignoring all billboard quests unless you feel they are super easy/worth the money. The game sets them up like those are suppose to be your focus instead of the main storyline, but there is good chance you will just burn out or get bored running across the world trying to check them off, and they are mostly killing the same boring stuff over and over.

They're worth picking up, but not to focus on as you say. They're good to just have in the background, since you'll most likely complete a lot of them while doing the quests that matter.

# ? Jan 11, 2016 02:47

Harrow: Jun 30, 2012

I'm considering playing on Hard from the start this time. Or, rather, playing on Normal until level 20ish then starting over on Hard, which I've heard puts you pretty much right on-curve for the early game on Hard.

Mostly, I just want the leveling process to go faster and not to ever have to care about gold, which is pretty much what Hard Mode does. That, and I'm probably going to do Bitterblack on Hard anyway.

That said, I wouldn't recommend that for new players. Hard Mode isn't all that special--it just amps up the damage you take and the Stamina cost of your abilities, in exchange for giving you double experience and gold. It's not a great way to do your first playthrough, nor is it any more "hardcore."

# ? Jan 11, 2016 02:48

Babe Magnet: Jun 2, 2008

chaos rhames posted:

If it was a beholder there would be traeemark issues, so it obviously isn't.

listen here motherfucker,

# ? Jan 11, 2016 02:49

Your Moms Ahegao: Sep 3, 2008

lets hang out posted:

you can go to bitterblack less than an hour after starting the game

You can, but you probably won't get very far. I don't know how easy it is on normal though.

# ? Jan 11, 2016 02:51

Kiggles: Dec 30, 2007

Monomythian posted:

For new players I would actually recommend ignoring all billboard quests unless you feel they are super easy/worth the money.

Don't do this. Pick up every notice board quest, except the escorts. Then forget about them. They will fill out on their own as you play, because they're basically just "kill X of Y". They're essentially free XP. Only worth checking from time to time as you're heading out from town to decide whether you want to fast travel, or sprint past packs of NPCs.

Also, check the notice boards frequently. They tend to update as you progress the main quest, but some update as you fill out quests. Each notice board is also unique, so check them all.

ON ESCORT QUESTS: they're super tedious and largely only tie in with the NPC affinity system. Some can yield good/OK gear, but for the most part they can be safely ignored. There are a couple f that gate OTHER escort quests, so if it comes to making sure you can get the perfect waifu, well, you're either gonna have to deal with things getting hosed up or spoil the escorts for yourself. I recommend dealing with it on a first playthrough. Game is meant to be replayed.

# ? Jan 11, 2016 02:56

Harrow: Jun 30, 2012

Some people have done the "Bitterblack Challenge," which is to go to Bitterblack Isle the moment you're able and never leave until you finish it. I don't think I'd want to do that myself, but it's definitely possible.

# ? Jan 11, 2016 02:56

Kiggles: Dec 30, 2007

Harrow posted:

Some people have done the "Bitterblack Challenge," which is to go to Bitterblack Isle the moment you're able and never leave until you finish it. I don't think I'd want to do that myself, but it's definitely possible.

Its absolutely worth giving a try if you've already played the game, and especially if you have already played through BBI. Though there is something to be said for people who REALLY enjoy dungeon crawling and want a good challenge trying it blind. It isn't even all that difficult past the first boss. At that point you will accumulate enough levels that you can survive well enough. It mostly just depends on being able to pick up a BBI tier weapon so you can actually deal some damage.

# ? Jan 11, 2016 03:01

queeb: Jun 10, 2004; m

man I want to be a mystic archer but casters are so boring to play

# ? Jan 11, 2016 03:04

Fereydun: May 9, 2008

Kiggles posted:

Its absolutely worth giving a try if you've already played the game, and especially if you have already played through BBI. Though there is something to be said for people who REALLY enjoy dungeon crawling and want a good challenge trying it blind. It isn't even all that difficult past the first boss. At that point you will accumulate enough levels that you can survive well enough. It mostly just depends on being able to pick up a BBI tier weapon so you can actually deal some damage.

also, throwblasts

throwblasts for days

# ? Jan 11, 2016 03:07

Harrow: Jun 30, 2012

queeb posted:

man I want to be a mystic archer but casters are so boring to play

If you want to be a Mystic Archer that isn't just like playing a caster, you'll need balanced stats anyway, so you'll have plenty of time playing as an Assassin/Ranger/etc. too. That way you can be strong with your daggers while you light yourself on fire and slice everything to pieces.

# ? Jan 11, 2016 03:08

Noper Q: Nov 7, 2012

Im_Special posted:

Steam Group for Dragon's Dogma, it should make life easier seeing who's online, and where all those random friend invites are coming from later down the road. Can even put in a Google spreadsheet for characters there and mark it as private viewing, if we do something like that.

Just post in here or PM me your Steam Profile for an invite.

Oh, and showing off why Dragon's Dogma has the most perfect character creator.

I'll take an invite! Steam name is the same one here (maybe without the space?).

I'm unreasonably excited for this game. I played it a ton on consoles, but I still can't wait to crack it open again.

# ? Jan 11, 2016 03:25

Vargs: Mar 27, 2010

Harrow posted:

Some people have done the "Bitterblack Challenge," which is to go to Bitterblack Isle the moment you're able and never leave until you finish it. I don't think I'd want to do that myself, but it's definitely possible.

This is a fun thing to do.

Another fun thing to do: solo fighter run. This is honestly my favorite way to play the game at this point, after doing it a couple times. It really forces you to get intimately familiar with each enemy in a way that more standard playthroughs do not, without necessarily being excruciatingly difficult. Perfect blocks also become a million times more valuable since you're the only target and using them deals good damage + presents openings. Getting the timing down on that stuff feels very rewarding.

Personally I don't quite stick to "100% fighter at all times" though. A few discipline point grinding sessions with warrior/assassin in order to pick up some augments makes the experience more pleasant. Hell, an assassin sticking to sword + shield is just a slightly shittier copy of the fighter anyways (though powder charge is cool).

It's a shame warrior has such useful augments, because I feel the need to fully level it up on every non-magic character despite the fact that it's the most boring class in the game imo.

# ? Jan 11, 2016 03:31

Harrow: Jun 30, 2012

Vargs posted:

It's a shame warrior has such useful augments, because I feel the need to fully level it up on every non-magic character despite the fact that it's the most boring class in the game imo.

I did the auto-grinding you can do in the late game to get Warrior augments on my old Mystic Knight back on PS3. Basically, after you kill Grigori, the guards around the palace in Gran Soren become hostile and spawn infinitely. Just load up with strong pawns, park your Arisen somewhere where they can't be hit, like on top of a wall. Then walk away and come back a couple hours later to tons of DP and very little actual EXP.

I mean, it's basically cheating, but it's a way to let you skip grinding for Augments on classes you don't like playing.

# ? Jan 11, 2016 03:41

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# ? Apr 25, 2024 00:13

Nahxela: Oct 11, 2008; Execution

Prior to that, you can also find one of the Liches that roam around in the overworld at night and farm the skeletons that they continuously spawn. Just leave the Lich alive and kill all the skeletons until the sun comes out.

# ? Jan 11, 2016 03:43

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Dragon's Dogma HD Thread: This dragon sure loves to talk, eh?

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