Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

This was recommended as sort of a dark souls meets skyrim game. I am
liking it, but it's 12 years old and shows it, and has some weird
character building.

It's had crashing bugs, black screen bugs, screen tearing, and probably
a couple other bugs I've forgotten about. I managed to fix the screen
tearing (have to turn on variable refresh,) and black screen (turn on
windowed mode - there is no borderless without mods, but I don't mind
the window bar on games so left it alone) but not the CTDs, fortunately
I've only had a couple of those.

The mechanics of character building are a bit weird as you get a certain
amount of attack and defense from a class each level based on how offensive/defensive it is and you can switch classes pretty redily
(after you get to the capital which doesn't take very long) and even
switch back.

I tried going pretty much all magic to begin with and that made me
extremely fragile, and the other thing I'm not too sure about is casting
spells roots you in place for a good amount of time during which you can
be hit out of your casting. The spellcasters do seem to be better at
large monsters, but do badly against numbers. I started over and went
with a more balanced build combining a bit of fighter (higher phys
defense) strider (phy offense & stamina,) mystic knight (balanced but
weaker skilled all of offence and defense) and sorcerer (offensive magic
and magic defense) which is working far better.

Attacking with weapons feels much better, but as I said it seems to have problems with bigger single monsters. Even then the magic attacks are
still better than the original BGs though, and probably much better
balanced even if it doesn't feel great.

Besides levels there's also class rank, and you need rank to purchace
weapon skills and augments (passive skills & defenses) specific to each
class. I don't really understand rank, but it seems to be more earned
by beating lesser enemies, and not as much relative to xp, and even less
from completing quests, all of which also earn XP toward leveling.
Apperantly I'm getting too much xp and not enough ranks as I was
supposed to be able to buy some skills by certain levels, after looking
up how to make a balanced character.

It's got a lot of loot and crafting possible it seems, which I don't
really like, so have been mostly ignoring that point and dumping it all
in storage. But it does have the usual RPG weight limits, only worse as
you slow down the closer you are to your weight limits.

It seems there's a lot of mods for this game, and feels like it really
needs some, much like bethesda games. I haven't installed any yet, but
am looking into it. One that seems like a no brainer greatly reduces
glow from magic which doesn't look very good and obscures most of the
screen. There's also ones for weight limits of course.

One very unusual thing about the game is the NPC party members. You can
have one you completely customize and level up with pretty much same as
your character can, I'd equate to a henchman, but it acts under computer
AI which can be adjusted somewhat by talking to them at a table at an
inn, and two hierlings which are other people's henchmen (or crappy
default ones if playing offline) Those ones don't level and you can't
change their skills, classes or AI behavior, and thus will be changing
out fairly frequently as you level up, to be close to your level.

Another thing about the NPC party members is they learn about areas and
quests and whatnot, and can give you 'thoughts / hints' about your
current quest, or warn you that the area you're in has a certain type of monster. Interestingly the hierlings know what they learned from
travelling where the other player did, so they may know things your
henchman doesn't.

About the online, it's barely online, you can't actually co-op or pvp
with anyone, it just allows you to get player created NPC hierlings.

The quests have been pretty light so far, and I've spent most of my time exploring and killing monsters. They do respawn after some time, and
I've probably gone through the early area something like 20 times. You
don't get enough xp and treasure that you'd want to mod that out
probably (like I did in fallout 3+)

It almost feels like an offline MMO, and in fact they made a DD MMO 3
years later. There's also some hubub about Dragon's Dogma 2 which just released on console, but isn't on PC yet.

I can't really see much similarity to Dark Souls other than the graphics
feel a bit like DS1 Remastered (better than vanilla DS1.) Oh well it
has one save like a DS character, however it reloads the last save if
you die. You can also choose to reload the last save. It also only has
one save slot, so you can't have a cadre of characters. Fortunately
there's a mod for that too.

--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
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\\
^'

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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On 3/21/2024 3:20 AM, kyonshi wrote:

On 3/20/2024 11:57 PM, Justisaur wrote:

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

On 3/21/2024 3:20 AM, kyonshi wrote:

On 3/20/2024 11:57 PM, Justisaur wrote:

Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

This was recommended as sort of a dark souls meets skyrim game. I am
liking it, but it's 12 years old and shows it, and has some weird
character building.

It's not really Dark Souls. It did remind me a bit of Skyrim, but with a
3rd party view.
It's very DnD in it's conception, with a lot of monsters that could
easily come directly from the Monster Manual. The first time I
encountered a manticore was scary, the harpies are pretty creepy. and
some of the monsters in the last dungeon definitely are heavily inspired (there's even a beholder). The orcs/goblins are very movie-LOTR though.

I agree, very D&D inspired, certainly closer than either Elder Scrolls
or From games, though ultimately those are also D&D inspired.

I tried going pretty much all magic to begin with and that made me
extremely fragile, and the other thing I'm not too sure about is
casting spells roots you in place for a good amount of time during
which you can be hit out of your casting. The spellcasters do seem to
be better at large monsters, but do badly against numbers. I started
over and went with a more balanced build combining a bit of fighter
(higher phys defense) strider (phy offense & stamina,) mystic knight
(balanced but weaker skilled all of offence and defense) and sorcerer
(offensive magic and magic defense) which is working far better.

The way to make casters work is with use of the NPC followers. You can
have up to 3 of them and you need them to take over the parts that your character is not good at. So a caster needs tanks to keep the opponents
off you as you prepare your spells.

I just got Comestion spell, which is described as a wall of fire, but
it's not really, it's a line paralell to you that throws enemies up in
the air and leaves a burnning patch on the ground. That one seems
really good against mooks, but it is a little slow. It sometimes seems
to do amazing damage to large enemies as well. My fighter pawn is
pretty good now, I just didn't understand the skills previously, but did
a lot of reading of how to set them up.

It's got a lot of loot and crafting possible it seems, which I don't
really like, so have been mostly ignoring that point and dumping it
all in storage. But it does have the usual RPG weight limits, only
worse as you slow down the closer you are to your weight limits.

I barely crafted anything, but there's a few moments where you need to
craft specific things to help you in game.

Good to know, I've thought about looking up what to craft and what to
sell. I usually hate crafting, and it looks no different here. I did
craft a perfume when I was playing around that heals the whole party a
little, which is really good as the party npcs refuse to use consumables
to restore their own health when the max is lowered unless it's below half.

That's another mechanic I don't like that I forgot to mention. As you
get damaged you have a small percent of the damage you take that lowers
your maximum hp, that can't be restored by healing spells, but can by consumables. That's fine except for the fact that NPCs don't restore
their max health unless it's below half.

One very unusual thing about the game is the NPC party members. You
can have one you completely customize and level up with pretty much
same as your character can, I'd equate to a henchman, but it acts
under computer AI which can be adjusted somewhat by talking to them at
a table at an inn, and two hierlings which are other people's henchmen
(or crappy default ones if playing offline) Those ones don't level and
you can't change their skills, classes or AI behavior, and thus will
be changing out fairly frequently as you level up, to be close to your
level.>> This becomes a bit of a strategic decision. You are limited as to what

party members you can get, and choosing new party members often comes
with a change in how you play the game. Rarely will you be able to get
the same skillset on your next round of NPCs again. In the beginning
this doesn't matter that much, but later on the skills diverge so much
that you will have to modify your playstyle to match.

I somehow got a level 37 other player's pawn when I was around 20th, I'm assuming from someone that played the game I'm friends with,
Interestingly you can get higher level ones, but they usually cost way
more of rift coins than I have, but this one was free. I looked it up
and found that if you're friends you can use a friend's for free. I
found one in the world that was 75 and friended them and picked up his
pawn, but his pawn was horrible having only the default mage spells,
upside is he's tough as nails so doesn't die and knows a lot of info,
but usefulness as much more than a HP sponge in combat is very low.

You can look through NPCs to hire quite a bit and see their skills (not augments which are almost as important) and find one to suit your
current playstyle which is what I've been doing.

I've got my pawn which I'm also following a defense based build who's
currently a fighter, he's pretty damn good, possibly now at 27th better
than my character, though he did go down a few times against some really
tough bandits recently.

So how far have you gotten?

I'm 28th level and been trying to find places mostly on my own as I seem
to enjoy exploring more than following quests, though I picked up a
bunch that I complete along the way like kill 20 snow harpies, and look
for ones that are in areas I have mapped. I had a couple escort
missions I didn't have the endpoint explored and the person I was
escorting died. The first time I was wondering why the NPC was
following me as I assumed I'd have to go find an meet him, and didn't
think I was doing the escort as I had another mission selected. The
second time I didn't even realize I was agreeing to an escort mission. Fortunately both NPCs reappeared with no real explanation, though I
don't have the option to resume the escort. I've sworn off escort
missions unless I know where I'm going.

I lost 2 NPCs and hightailed it from some Amazon bandits as the last
thing I did. Actually they knocked the NPCs off a cliff that's up there,
I'm not sure how to prevent that. I probably could've taken them if
they hadn't killed my NPCs by knocking them down a cliff that took a
long time to go get them from. At least I was able to revive one, the
other was my pawn and I had to go collect him from a rift stone. I also
killed the Chimera and helmed Cyclops right before them.

It almost feels like an offline MMO, and in fact they made a DD MMO 3
years later. There's also some hubub about Dragon's Dogma 2 which
just released on console, but isn't on PC yet.

There also is an anime for it, which doesn't seem to be connected that
much outside of the core concept.

Oh, I'll have to look that up. I think I saw it was on Netflix a month
ago, but saw it was based on a game I wasn't familiar with at the time
so didn't watch it.

But yes, it's DD2 that is currently making people interested in the game again.

That and ER DLC coming out soon too.

I can't really see much similarity to Dark Souls other than the
graphics feel a bit like DS1 Remastered (better than vanilla DS1.) Oh
well it has one save like a DS character, however it reloads the last
save if you die. You can also choose to reload the last save. It
also only has one save slot, so you can't have a cadre of characters.
Fortunately there's a mod for that too.

I have to say I really liked it when I played it. It was a bit generic
in some of it's parts, and the story was a bit obvious, but it was
engaging enough. I played as a fighter and without branching out you
really needed the support of those NPCs.

I like the defensive balanced/jack of all trades build I'm following as
you get to try all the classes out and they're much tougher than just
going straight magic or melee.

Definately not something you would play for story, just a somewhat fun
3rd person CRPG

--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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Not going to get Dragon's Dogma II Justisaur?

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 3/25/2024 8:49 PM, PW wrote:

Not going to get Dragon's Dogma II Justisaur?

Maybe eventually. I'm finding 1 very repetitive at this point and
getting a bit bored with it. 90% of the game is fighting bandits,
goblins, wolves, zombies & skeletons which currently offer no challenge,
and leveling has slowed to a trickle. I miss the variety and some of
the difficulty of Souls games (except ER which gets a bit repetitive.)
I suppose I could start over on hard mode, but that would just make it
harder not have any more variety. I'm on the edge of quitting, but
trying to push forward the main quests now to get it over with or
somewhere more challenging & different monsters.

The only real challenge in the last 10 levels or so has been the luck of avoiding me or my NPCs getting picked up and dropped off cliffs by
fliers or pushed off to our deaths.

At least with the changing classes every 11 levels that the build guide
I'm using that gives me some variety as I learn how to fight as a
different class, but the levels have slowed down considerably at 41
(there's 200 in total, I hope I don't have to go through all of them to
finish the game)

Also 2 currently has some severe performance issues on PC that are being
looked into, and there's complaints it's littered with MTX.

I'm thinking of giving Monster Hunter a third try again as there's
supposed to be a lot of monster variety, I don't know if I can get past
the apparently endless extremely cringe cutscenes though.

--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tue, 26 Mar 2024 07:27:28 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

On 3/25/2024 8:49 PM, PW wrote:

Not going to get Dragon's Dogma II Justisaur?

Maybe eventually. I'm finding 1 very repetitive at this point and
getting a bit bored with it. 90% of the game is fighting bandits,
goblins, wolves, zombies & skeletons which currently offer no challenge,
and leveling has slowed to a trickle. I miss the variety and some of
the difficulty of Souls games (except ER which gets a bit repetitive.)
I suppose I could start over on hard mode, but that would just make it
harder not have any more variety. I'm on the edge of quitting, but
trying to push forward the main quests now to get it over with or
somewhere more challenging & different monsters.

The only real challenge in the last 10 levels or so has been the luck of >avoiding me or my NPCs getting picked up and dropped off cliffs by
fliers or pushed off to our deaths.

At least with the changing classes every 11 levels that the build guide
I'm using that gives me some variety as I learn how to fight as a
different class, but the levels have slowed down considerably at 41
(there's 200 in total, I hope I don't have to go through all of them to >finish the game)

Also 2 currently has some severe performance issues on PC that are being >looked into, and there's complaints it's littered with MTX.

I'm thinking of giving Monster Hunter a third try again as there's
supposed to be a lot of monster variety, I don't know if I can get past
the apparently endless extremely cringe cutscenes though.

*--
Yes, some of the Steam reviews of 2 point out that the game barely run
on super computers so I doubt mine could handle it, even though it
isn't that old.

Which Monster Hunter?

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 3/26/2024 10:13 AM, PW wrote:

On Tue, 26 Mar 2024 07:27:28 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

On 3/25/2024 8:49 PM, PW wrote:

Not going to get Dragon's Dogma II Justisaur?

Maybe eventually. I'm finding 1 very repetitive at this point and
getting a bit bored with it. 90% of the game is fighting bandits,
goblins, wolves, zombies & skeletons which currently offer no challenge,
and leveling has slowed to a trickle. I miss the variety and some of
the difficulty of Souls games (except ER which gets a bit repetitive.)
I suppose I could start over on hard mode, but that would just make it
harder not have any more variety. I'm on the edge of quitting, but
trying to push forward the main quests now to get it over with or
somewhere more challenging & different monsters.

The only real challenge in the last 10 levels or so has been the luck of
avoiding me or my NPCs getting picked up and dropped off cliffs by
fliers or pushed off to our deaths.

At least with the changing classes every 11 levels that the build guide
I'm using that gives me some variety as I learn how to fight as a
different class, but the levels have slowed down considerably at 41
(there's 200 in total, I hope I don't have to go through all of them to
finish the game)

Also 2 currently has some severe performance issues on PC that are being
looked into, and there's complaints it's littered with MTX.

I'm thinking of giving Monster Hunter a third try again as there's
supposed to be a lot of monster variety, I don't know if I can get past
the apparently endless extremely cringe cutscenes though.

*--
Yes, some of the Steam reviews of 2 point out that the game barely run
on super computers so I doubt mine could handle it, even though it
isn't that old.

Just saw another post about the sorcerer being nerfed to hell, There's
only 4 spells now, and even those have been nerfed. I think that's the
last nail in the coffin for DD2.

Which Monster Hunter?

The only one I have is World.

--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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Which Monster Hunter?

The only one I have is World.

Monster Hunter Rise is on gamepass

rms

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 3/26/2024 3:16 PM, rms wrote:

Which Monster Hunter?

The only one I have is World.

  Monster Hunter Rise is on gamepass

rms

Is that one any better?

--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

The only one I have is World.

Monster Hunter Rise is on gamepass

Is that one any better?

Online comparisons seem to regard Rise as being better balanced and more noob-friendly

rms

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 3/27/2024 11:04 AM, rms wrote:

The only one I have is World.

   Monster Hunter Rise is on gamepass

Is that one any better?

  Online comparisons seem to regard Rise as being better balanced and
more noob-friendly

Thanks I'll look into it. Probably in the distant future :D

--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Tue, 26 Mar 2024 15:13:41 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

On 3/26/2024 10:13 AM, PW wrote:

On Tue, 26 Mar 2024 07:27:28 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

On 3/25/2024 8:49 PM, PW wrote:

Not going to get Dragon's Dogma II Justisaur?

Maybe eventually. I'm finding 1 very repetitive at this point and
getting a bit bored with it. 90% of the game is fighting bandits,
goblins, wolves, zombies & skeletons which currently offer no challenge, >>> and leveling has slowed to a trickle. I miss the variety and some of
the difficulty of Souls games (except ER which gets a bit repetitive.)
I suppose I could start over on hard mode, but that would just make it
harder not have any more variety. I'm on the edge of quitting, but
trying to push forward the main quests now to get it over with or
somewhere more challenging & different monsters.

The only real challenge in the last 10 levels or so has been the luck of >>> avoiding me or my NPCs getting picked up and dropped off cliffs by
fliers or pushed off to our deaths.

At least with the changing classes every 11 levels that the build guide
I'm using that gives me some variety as I learn how to fight as a
different class, but the levels have slowed down considerably at 41
(there's 200 in total, I hope I don't have to go through all of them to
finish the game)

Also 2 currently has some severe performance issues on PC that are being >>> looked into, and there's complaints it's littered with MTX.

I'm thinking of giving Monster Hunter a third try again as there's
supposed to be a lot of monster variety, I don't know if I can get past
the apparently endless extremely cringe cutscenes though.

*--
Yes, some of the Steam reviews of 2 point out that the game barely run
on super computers so I doubt mine could handle it, even though it
isn't that old.

Just saw another post about the sorcerer being nerfed to hell, There's
only 4 spells now, and even those have been nerfed. I think that's the
last nail in the coffin for DD2.

Which Monster Hunter?

The only one I have is World.

*--

Don't know what that means.

Just read that there is only one save game, just like Elden Ring.
Well, I put up with it with ER for hundreds of hours because I found
away around it, but this game is no ER.

I would pick up and replay ER again if it wasn't for that one save
game file!

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Wed, 27 Mar 2024 16:03:36 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

On 3/27/2024 11:04 AM, rms wrote:

The only one I have is World.

   Monster Hunter Rise is on gamepass

Is that one any better?

  Online comparisons seem to regard Rise as being better balanced and
more noob-friendly

Thanks I'll look into it. Probably in the distant future :D

*--

Oh come on now Justisaur! Be like the rest of us here! Buy it now
and forget about it!!!

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

PW <iamnotusingonewithAgent@notinuse.com> wrote at 02:01 this Thursday (GMT):

On Wed, 27 Mar 2024 16:03:36 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

On 3/27/2024 11:04 AM, rms wrote:

The only one I have is World.

   Monster Hunter Rise is on gamepass

Is that one any better?

  Online comparisons seem to regard Rise as being better balanced and
more noob-friendly

Thanks I'll look into it. Probably in the distant future :D

*--

Oh come on now Justisaur! Be like the rest of us here! Buy it now
and forget about it!!!

-pw

I'm (usually) not like that :(
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 3/27/2024 6:59 PM, PW wrote:

On Tue, 26 Mar 2024 15:13:41 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

On 3/26/2024 10:13 AM, PW wrote:

On Tue, 26 Mar 2024 07:27:28 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

On 3/25/2024 8:49 PM, PW wrote:

Not going to get Dragon's Dogma II Justisaur?

Maybe eventually. I'm finding 1 very repetitive at this point and
getting a bit bored with it. 90% of the game is fighting bandits,
goblins, wolves, zombies & skeletons which currently offer no challenge, >>>> and leveling has slowed to a trickle. I miss the variety and some of
the difficulty of Souls games (except ER which gets a bit repetitive.) >>>> I suppose I could start over on hard mode, but that would just make it >>>> harder not have any more variety. I'm on the edge of quitting, but
trying to push forward the main quests now to get it over with or
somewhere more challenging & different monsters.

The only real challenge in the last 10 levels or so has been the luck of >>>> avoiding me or my NPCs getting picked up and dropped off cliffs by
fliers or pushed off to our deaths.

At least with the changing classes every 11 levels that the build guide >>>> I'm using that gives me some variety as I learn how to fight as a
different class, but the levels have slowed down considerably at 41
(there's 200 in total, I hope I don't have to go through all of them to >>>> finish the game)

Also 2 currently has some severe performance issues on PC that are being >>>> looked into, and there's complaints it's littered with MTX.

I'm thinking of giving Monster Hunter a third try again as there's
supposed to be a lot of monster variety, I don't know if I can get past >>>> the apparently endless extremely cringe cutscenes though.

*--
Yes, some of the Steam reviews of 2 point out that the game barely run
on super computers so I doubt mine could handle it, even though it
isn't that old.

Just saw another post about the sorcerer being nerfed to hell, There's
only 4 spells now, and even those have been nerfed. I think that's the
last nail in the coffin for DD2.

Which Monster Hunter?

The only one I have is World.

*--

Don't know what that means.

Just read that there is only one save game, just like Elden Ring.
Well, I put up with it with ER for hundreds of hours because I found
away around it, but this game is no ER.

I would pick up and replay ER again if it wasn't for that one save
game file!

DD:DA has no reason for it either. It's not like ER/DS where you don't
really die, being undead, it also doesn't keep your save up to date like
ER/DS. It only auto-saves at area transitions. It just reloads your
last save, even if that was 30 minutes ago (had that happen once, my
save early save often reflexes kicked in after that.)

It's also worse as you can only have one character on that save file.
Easily the stupidest and worst 'feature' of DD:DA is the save system.

Fortunately I looked up where the saves are and made some backups, not
enough, and not early enough as I didn't save a backup of my first
character, but some.

I actually somewhat appreciate the ER/DS saves as you can have 10
characters (still not enough for me, but workable with backups.) You
don't ever have to worry about interrupting the game to save. It's
still a good idea to make some backups of the save file in-case you get yourself in a bad place (really not a problem except in DS1.)

--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On Thu, 28 Mar 2024 09:16:44 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

On 3/27/2024 6:59 PM, PW wrote:

On Tue, 26 Mar 2024 15:13:41 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

On 3/26/2024 10:13 AM, PW wrote:

On Tue, 26 Mar 2024 07:27:28 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

On 3/25/2024 8:49 PM, PW wrote:

Not going to get Dragon's Dogma II Justisaur?

Maybe eventually. I'm finding 1 very repetitive at this point and
getting a bit bored with it. 90% of the game is fighting bandits,
goblins, wolves, zombies & skeletons which currently offer no challenge, >>>>> and leveling has slowed to a trickle. I miss the variety and some of >>>>> the difficulty of Souls games (except ER which gets a bit repetitive.) >>>>> I suppose I could start over on hard mode, but that would just make it >>>>> harder not have any more variety. I'm on the edge of quitting, but
trying to push forward the main quests now to get it over with or
somewhere more challenging & different monsters.

The only real challenge in the last 10 levels or so has been the luck of >>>>> avoiding me or my NPCs getting picked up and dropped off cliffs by
fliers or pushed off to our deaths.

At least with the changing classes every 11 levels that the build guide >>>>> I'm using that gives me some variety as I learn how to fight as a
different class, but the levels have slowed down considerably at 41
(there's 200 in total, I hope I don't have to go through all of them to >>>>> finish the game)

Also 2 currently has some severe performance issues on PC that are being >>>>> looked into, and there's complaints it's littered with MTX.

I'm thinking of giving Monster Hunter a third try again as there's
supposed to be a lot of monster variety, I don't know if I can get past >>>>> the apparently endless extremely cringe cutscenes though.

*--
Yes, some of the Steam reviews of 2 point out that the game barely run >>>> on super computers so I doubt mine could handle it, even though it
isn't that old.

Just saw another post about the sorcerer being nerfed to hell, There's
only 4 spells now, and even those have been nerfed. I think that's the
last nail in the coffin for DD2.

Which Monster Hunter?

The only one I have is World.

*--

Don't know what that means.

Just read that there is only one save game, just like Elden Ring.
Well, I put up with it with ER for hundreds of hours because I found
away around it, but this game is no ER.

I would pick up and replay ER again if it wasn't for that one save
game file!

DD:DA has no reason for it either. It's not like ER/DS where you don't >really die, being undead, it also doesn't keep your save up to date like >ER/DS. It only auto-saves at area transitions. It just reloads your
last save, even if that was 30 minutes ago (had that happen once, my
save early save often reflexes kicked in after that.)

It's also worse as you can only have one character on that save file.
Easily the stupidest and worst 'feature' of DD:DA is the save system.

Fortunately I looked up where the saves are and made some backups, not >enough, and not early enough as I didn't save a backup of my first
character, but some.

I actually somewhat appreciate the ER/DS saves as you can have 10
characters (still not enough for me, but workable with backups.) You
don't ever have to worry about interrupting the game to save. It's
still a good idea to make some backups of the save file in-case you get >yourself in a bad place (really not a problem except in DS1.)

*--

Okay Justisaur. I did just buy it any way. I guess more of a test to
see if it will run on my system and if it struggles before the time is
over to refund it to Steam than I will!

But I am already sick of it because I am stuck moving rock piles at
the start of the game.

There is no way I am going to spend much time doing all the research
and spending so much money on toner and paper like I did for Elden
Ring! I probably spent about half my time researching and studying ER
as I did playing it! I sure wish I could just pick it up and start
playing ER again but since I quit almost at the end I am afraid to do
so. Plus, there is no way I have the energy and reflexes to get back
into it now. It wore me out!

If the game gets on my nerves then I will just quit playing it.

-pw

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

On 3/28/2024 2:37 PM, PW wrote:

On Thu, 28 Mar 2024 09:16:44 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

On 3/27/2024 6:59 PM, PW wrote:

On Tue, 26 Mar 2024 15:13:41 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

On 3/26/2024 10:13 AM, PW wrote:

On Tue, 26 Mar 2024 07:27:28 -0700, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

On 3/25/2024 8:49 PM, PW wrote:

Not going to get Dragon's Dogma II Justisaur?

Maybe eventually. I'm finding 1 very repetitive at this point and >>>>>> getting a bit bored with it. 90% of the game is fighting bandits, >>>>>> goblins, wolves, zombies & skeletons which currently offer no challenge, >>>>>> and leveling has slowed to a trickle. I miss the variety and some of >>>>>> the difficulty of Souls games (except ER which gets a bit repetitive.) >>>>>> I suppose I could start over on hard mode, but that would just make it >>>>>> harder not have any more variety. I'm on the edge of quitting, but >>>>>> trying to push forward the main quests now to get it over with or
somewhere more challenging & different monsters.

The only real challenge in the last 10 levels or so has been the luck of >>>>>> avoiding me or my NPCs getting picked up and dropped off cliffs by >>>>>> fliers or pushed off to our deaths.

At least with the changing classes every 11 levels that the build guide >>>>>> I'm using that gives me some variety as I learn how to fight as a
different class, but the levels have slowed down considerably at 41 >>>>>> (there's 200 in total, I hope I don't have to go through all of them to >>>>>> finish the game)

Also 2 currently has some severe performance issues on PC that are being >>>>>> looked into, and there's complaints it's littered with MTX.

I'm thinking of giving Monster Hunter a third try again as there's >>>>>> supposed to be a lot of monster variety, I don't know if I can get past >>>>>> the apparently endless extremely cringe cutscenes though.

*--
Yes, some of the Steam reviews of 2 point out that the game barely run >>>>> on super computers so I doubt mine could handle it, even though it
isn't that old.

Just saw another post about the sorcerer being nerfed to hell, There's >>>> only 4 spells now, and even those have been nerfed. I think that's the >>>> last nail in the coffin for DD2.

Which Monster Hunter?

The only one I have is World.

*--

Don't know what that means.

Just read that there is only one save game, just like Elden Ring.
Well, I put up with it with ER for hundreds of hours because I found
away around it, but this game is no ER.

I would pick up and replay ER again if it wasn't for that one save
game file!

DD:DA has no reason for it either. It's not like ER/DS where you don't
really die, being undead, it also doesn't keep your save up to date like
ER/DS. It only auto-saves at area transitions. It just reloads your
last save, even if that was 30 minutes ago (had that happen once, my
save early save often reflexes kicked in after that.)

It's also worse as you can only have one character on that save file.
Easily the stupidest and worst 'feature' of DD:DA is the save system.

Fortunately I looked up where the saves are and made some backups, not
enough, and not early enough as I didn't save a backup of my first
character, but some.

I actually somewhat appreciate the ER/DS saves as you can have 10
characters (still not enough for me, but workable with backups.) You
don't ever have to worry about interrupting the game to save. It's
still a good idea to make some backups of the save file in-case you get
yourself in a bad place (really not a problem except in DS1.)

*--

Okay Justisaur. I did just buy it any way. I guess more of a test to
see if it will run on my system and if it struggles before the time is
over to refund it to Steam than I will!

But I am already sick of it because I am stuck moving rock piles at
the start of the game.

There is no way I am going to spend much time doing all the research
and spending so much money on toner and paper like I did for Elden
Ring! I probably spent about half my time researching and studying ER
as I did playing it! I sure wish I could just pick it up and start
playing ER again but since I quit almost at the end I am afraid to do
so. Plus, there is no way I have the energy and reflexes to get back
into it now. It wore me out!

If the game gets on my nerves then I will just quit playing it.

If DD2 is anything like 1 (and all signs point to it is) it's pretty
easy after about level 15 except for dragons and some higher level
areas. It seems expected you do some areas over, and do a bit of
exploring for xp, gold, and perhaps the odd item that's good.

I get the nerves with From games, it was really starting to get to me
after I went back to DS3, and Bloodborne was all nerves even though most
of the bosses I beat in 2 or 3 tries until the deep chalice dungeons
(which aren't needed to beat the game.) Getting too old for the twitch
I guess. The offer stands to co-op through the last of ER bosses with
you if you ever decide you want to.

DD's combat hasn't been particularly twitch to me though, you basically
just beat on bosses with normal attacks or one of the 6 skills you're
allowed for a really long time (or climb/shoot to get weak spots.) Or
get pulverized so quickly it's obvious you need to level up/get better
gear. The common enemies aren't even really a threat (other than if
they can knock you off ledges) after around 15-20 compared to bosses.

--
-Justisaur

ø-ø
(\_/)\
`-'\ `--.___,
¶¬'\( ,_.-'
\\
^'

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)