Dragon's Dogma - The Bear and Badger

Tempy

You can save frequently to get past the punishing checkpoints.

I'm not loving this yet. I have picked up a stack of quests to do after a difficult trip to the Catacombs but I don't know where to do them. The Noble Manse? The Abbey Area? I have no idea where these places are.

It seems to be be breeding Skyrim's open world with Dark Souls lack of explanation. This could be great, but I guess I need to spend a ton of time on it to figure that out. An hour roaming around Gran Sorin didn't uncover those areas, and I have no time left tonight. Tiny bit frustrating that.

Still, fighting with your pawns (when they aren't bring total idiots) is a lot of fun, and the depth is clearly there, it just takes a time investment to get at.

Tempy

Clarification: I love the potential, I just wish it steered your hand a little bit more, my weekday gaming time is slight!

Curtis

Don't worry about it. Initially it seems very ignorant on purpose. I'm pretty sure the pawn idea was kinda their realtime update revelation, as long as the pawn you hired has "seen it done it". That's the impression i get.

Other than that, with certain quests you have to find a specific person. But that person has a pattern (not always), so you need to be in the right place at the right time, which can be tiresome. But i'm enjoying the standard Monster Hunter "Kill 20 Whatevers", as a distraction.

As a game it's missing sooooo much, and adds very little. But as a first attempt at a WRPG, i'd doff my to Capcom.

cosmicjellybean

Curtis wrote:

Does everyone know that the size of your character affects how much you can carry, which has a knock on effect to your overall speed (i.e being constantly overburdened)? Picking perfectly formed women is not helping me out in this game.Â

What? Ah man, my petite japanese lady seemed like an awesome character to play. I still think shes awesome, it makes sense as i have to constantly delve into the menus to move materials about.

fullspectrum

Had an epic quest tonight, culminating in running the fuck away from this..

I'd just escaped a goblin castle, fighting off the stragglers outside then suddenly flames, flames all around me.

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Kiltedmoose

Had a brilliant session tonight. Changed my main into a warrior and Balderak - my trusty sidekick - is now a sorcerer. Went off on a few quests, found a camp out in the wilderness, beat up gangs of goblins and took down three ogres and a huge cyclops. I also came across a large drake but one glance at his hit points, and I was off running.

There's something magical about the sense of scale in Dragon's Dogma and when daylight begins to break, there's always a great sense of relief. It may not be the best looking game ever made, but it can look stunning in places. Anyway, here's me running towards Gran Soren in the middle of the night:

Kiltedmoose

Can't post the pic from my iPad...

Curtis

This is the first game in ages where i'm actally upset i have to go to work today.

fullspectrum

I hear that.

A recent tweet:

DD may join the coveted ranks of SF and DS/DkS in the catagory of games that have impeded my ability to work properly.

That fortress last night was too epic. Completely shouldn't have been there, yet made it work out by stretching my resources to the limit. When Merlin, my only healer, became forfeit things looked dire. Three heavily armoured cyclopsi, a horde of goblins pouring out of the ground and two turrets atop high parapet walls all fixed on me. I ate every last piece of food I had tring to keep the team alive through the night, with no oil for the latern for even the most meagre comfort.

Then I stumbled out, battle won, and got ambushed by that monstrositie above.

As you say Curtis, today will be long.

ZMM

When it gets dark I've taken to climbing to a high place and just waiting it out.

EDIT: Just as I post that I get ambushed by a load of hobgoblins. Suppose it was foolish waiting around in their territory

EvilRedEye

I've just read all this thread and still don't entirely get what this is all about. Is there like some kind of storyline? Is it about killing stuff? What's the overall goal of it?

ayns

Spent 15 minutes killing an ogre through a small doorway so it couldn't hit me.

Awesome.

ZMM

I was walking around this mountain trail, and a Cyclops in the far distance managed to fall off and die instantly. I got the XP for 'killing' it xD maybe it saw me from afar and decided to take its own life less feel the might of my blade!

Kiltedmoose

It's a pity the pics don't turn out better - this looked lovely at the time. Ah well.

Facewon

Witcher is defo going for this. Today or tomorrow.

rickjoyce

I'm kind of like an angry Captain Haddock with more scars.

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fullspectrum

Churro came home with the motherload last night. 5,000 rifties. The right thing to do was hire a level 39 mage called TARA with a fiesty head of red hair, glasses, and interesting theories on what parts of the body protective armour should cover. I'm level 26 so she should carry the team on her back for a whiile.

Tempy, if you re-hired Churro now, would you get all his new upgrades? Seems like it could be a good tactic. I got him a sick-looking new Archistave in the shape of horns - looks a lot like the Titanite Catch Pole. I maxed it out befre bed but had no time to test drive it.

Curtis

I only played an hour or so last night 'cause i was knackered.Â

I've hired one of Capcom's 'special' pawns 'cause i had a shitload of RC's accrued from Yuria's exploits in other worlds. This new bird's a Level 47 Strider with plumage aplenty. I will test her mettle tonight. Gonna do some serious wandering, see what sorta trouble i can get into (then run away from, lol).

fullspectrum

wow 47 hey. What level are you?

Curtis

21 i think.

Tempy

Hmm, I dunno Nick. I think if you rest at an inn it resyncs them as he was level 17 last I looked. I'll try on Friday and let you know, else someone else can check sooner I'm sure.

Churro 4 lyf though.

Coopers Green

Played the demo a little bit last night. Am intrigued, but not convinced. Think I need a mate to buy it and show me how it is! Combat was OK, not overly complex â€“ but fighting in corridors was a pain in the arse. The chimera was an awesome beastie to fight â€“ loved how you could jump on it.Â

The demo struck me as being a bit so-so. Didn't think it was the best way to show off the game as it hinted at lots of other interesting stuff. HATED the voice acting, but I'm pretty good at tuning out that stuff. ;-)

More likely I'll just keep coming back to this thread and buy it next week. I'm just afraid it'll be too similar to Dragon Age. I really wanted to like that game and reckon it's one of the most over-rated, dumbed-down and drawn-out games I've played this gen.Â

<sigh>Â

I miss characters like Minsc.

fullspectrum

I hated that (both) and love this, so I think you'll be pleasantly surprised by DD.

Coopers Green

That's exactly what I wanted to hear Nick. :-)

Christ, if I ever have to play a section like 'The Fade' again, I'm quitting immediately.

Fucking Dragon Age. Can't believe I played it all the way to the end.

fullspectrum

That's impressive. One hour of the first was enough, and I really tried to like the second one, but it was as deep as a puddle.

tigersgogrrr

It was no Baldur's Gate, but it was still pretty good as a throwback RPG. Doubt it would translate well to being played on console. I tried playing Skyrim again just now. Fucking hell, people lay into Bioware's writers but has anyone kicked lumps out of Bethesda's word-spinners? Eesh.

I really need to buy this. Why the hell aren't there any game shops in Korea? FFS. I'm not going to be able to buy it until, like, Sunday or something.

Coopers Green

Skyrim's story isn't why I play it. I play it for the sense of exploration and adventure, which it does brilliantly. The sidequests really make it. The main quest â€“ like Oblivion's â€“ is only OK. I think the last main quest in an RPG that had me really interested in the story was KOTOR.

If there are decent sidequests and a bazillion ways to tinker with my character in DD, then I'm probably sold. The biggest failing of JRPG upgrades was how all items were just slightly better versions of what you already had. THAT'S NOT AN RPG IN MY BOOK!Â

Can't believe how much I'm hanging around this thread and I haven't got the game.

ZMM

I don't think any game has ever come close to the sense of exploration and adventure in this game, not even Skyrim!

In other news, I did an escort quest with the main innkeeper and ran into some troublesome bandits. Anyway, he died. Now there's nobody to speak to at reception. Please tell me he's coming back!

Also I have lost the ability to take photos, after accidentally forbidden Dragon's Dogma on my Facebook from publishing anything. Anyone have the slightest idea how to reverse that? I've tried changing my Facebook account even and it doesn't work, still.

Kiltedmoose

I'm 21 hours into this and it just gets better and better. The atmosphere is quite special and I think the lighting effects are really well done. I was standing on a cliff last night and saw my party's shadows on the rocks below.

It has a wonderful sense of adventure and I've been exploring all over the place. There's always a tinge of fear as you just don't know what lies off the beaten path.Â I also got into a few scrapes with a cyclops followed by a chimera last night. I love everything about this game. It's definitely my favourite game of the year so far - knocking Binary Domain off my top spot.

fullspectrum

I'm with you man. Best thing since Dark Souls.

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