Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen - Review

The South China Morning Post likes Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen:

Game review: Dragon's Dogma is still a deeply enjoyable, totally immersive experience

This port from console to PC is showing its age a little, but it remains a gripping game that will consume many of your hours.

Halfway down the winding ramp, I realised how big a mistake I’d made.

Up to this point I’d been holding my own against any bandits and creatures I came across. But the lurching troll ahead of me stood taller than I did, and he wasn’t very happy either. Without thinking, I pulled out my bow and let arrows fly. Beside me my companions raged forward, their spells and swords lashing out at the beast. He took them down first, leaving me no choice but to retreat and try to escape while my pawns lay dying in a pool of their own blood. I never made it to the exit. I’m not sure how things turned so badly. I only know that troll was out for blood, and mine must have been pretty tasty.

[…]

Overall Capcom has done a solid job bringing a very well-made RPG to the PC. The game features the massive world of Granys and is filled with tons of customisation options, as well as hundreds of complex and dynamic combat situations. It’s really one of the better RPGs we’ve seen of late, and I only experienced two crashes during my time with the game. I also never had any problems with the game’s frame rate, which was a huge issue on the console release. If you’re looking for a game that combines elements of Skyrim, Monster Hunter, Dark Souls and Japanese RPGs, then Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen should be on your watch list.

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No trolls in the game, probably means ogres.

The more I play this game the more I like it.

The pawn system is really cool. I hired a pawn and he had knowledge of the witcheswood area and was able to lead me straight to the witches hut which probably would have taken quite a while to find fumbling around on my own. Also all the other hints they give you are great as well. Yes they do repeat themselves too often but I wouldn't want to play the game without them.

I have imposed a no save during play limitation on myself. This just feels right and creates much more tension.

For example I had a rather long escort mission. ( optional but I took it anyway) I had to escort this guy to some remote beach that felt like it was on the other side of the world. It lead me to areas I probably shouldn't have been but after much sneaking, fighting, running and losing 2 pawns I finally made it with cargo intact. The tension was great worrying at every turn and the sight of every new monster. If I would have saved every 25 steps it would have just been tedious not tense. I love tension in games.

The negatives though. Is upon arriving on the beach it was nightfall. I was in a canyon that I had to scale down to get there but I wasn't quite able to reach to climb out. Walking down the canyon a bit reveled some very large ogres that I didn't want to tangle with. Now what I wanted to do was head back to the beach and sleep until dawn in the abandoned tent with the nice fire. You know, Cook up some fish and get some shut eye and try and deal with the ogres with the visibility of day, but as I complained in a separate thread I couldn't. You can only rest at inns despite the ample number of tents and shacks through out the land. Immersion killer. So I ended up going to get a snack in real life and waiting for dawn in the game. Also on the way I had to actually pick up the guy I was escorting because he wouldn't follow me. Mostly when jumping down short cliffs to avoid enemies. I kind of figured that though when I took up the optional escort mission. I was surprised by how far away it was though. Overall though a tense and welcome quest to my adventure.

Couple niggles aside this games really growing on me.

Originally Posted by sakichop
The more I play this game the more I like it.

The pawn system is really cool. I hired a pawn and he had knowledge of the witcheswood area and was able to lead me straight to the witches hut which probably would have taken quite a while to find fumbling around on my own. Also all the other hints they give you are great as well. Yes they do repeat themselves too often but I wouldn't want to play the game without them.

Are you playing in online mode or offline?

Online.

I'm here guys! Don't worry! Ok, so how could anyone possibly NOT like this game?! If you give it a chance it is so delicious! Tight controls, responsive combat, diversity of playstyles, rewarding exploration, humor, tragedy, drama! I'm on my fifth playthrough now, having beating it twice on Hard for the nifty rewards.

Now I'm finally ready for Bitterblack, the best mega-dungeon in any RPG, ever, period. Seriously, peeps, I've played a lot of mega-dungeons, but Dogma has the best, by far. Lufia 2's Ancient Cave was pretty epic. A few Final Fantasy's had some good ones, but Bitterblack Isle in DDDA is the BEST for so many reasons.

Originally Posted by sakichop
Online.

I wonder how different the experience is if I were to play offline. I know the pawns are randomly generated in offline mode. I assume what knowledge they have is also random..

Originally Posted by JDR13
I wonder how different the experience is if I were to play offline. I know the pawns are randomly generated in offline mode. I assume what knowledge they have is also random..

I played entirely offline on the PS3, and now I'm playing entirely online on PC. There really isn't much difference to tell you the truth. In theory the online pawns will know more and have better tactics since they have other real players to guide them. However, I find very little actual difference from playing offline.

The biggest difference, by far, is the online pawns tend to look crazy since real players find this funny…and the online pawns are often way over-powered with most likely hacked or edited gear from a console save.

So actually…playing offline is a more pure experience. I noticed on the third day there were already pawns will full sets of the best armor in the game. That armor takes hundreds of hours to get on your own.

Thanks for letting me know that, Brumbek. I'll probably play offline whenever I can find the time for a full playthrough.

Not sure but there might be one difference. My pawn has started to get hired by others and often comes back with new knowledge, RC and even an item, but it was a rock.

Not really sure why you'd chose to play offline you never see or interact with anyone else. There aren't any invasions or anything like dark souls.

Originally Posted by sakichop
Not really sure why you'd chose to play offline you never see or interact with anyone else. There aren't any invasions or anything like dark souls.

Because of the exact reasons Brumbek mentions above. I don't want to experience goofy-looking or overpowered pawns.

Originally Posted by JDR13
Because of the exact reasons Brumbek mentions above. I don't want to experience goofy-looking or overpowered pawns.

Oh, I haven't experienced that yet. I know there's a jesters outfit you can equip that I discarded immediately and I haven't seen a single pawn with it. They've all looked pretty setting appropriate, to me anyway.

As far as I can tell stronger pawns cost more RC. So I only recruit the free ones which mean they are around the same strength as me. I thought I read somewhere that the game will take equipment into account but don't quote me on that. I haven't had any overpowered pawns though. I usually end up either reviving them constantly or just finishing the battle myself.

Anyway you can switch between online and offline anytime you want so it's worth a try IMO.

Originally Posted by sakichop
Not sure but there might be one difference. My pawn has started to get hired by others and often comes back with new knowledge, RC and even an item, but it was a rock.

The rock item is because the player who rented your pawn was given a trading ban by the server. This ban can because of editing your save files or hacking. When that happens the game gives the owner a rock instead of whatever hacked item they might have tried to give you. …Or maybe they just gave you a rock…but unlikely.

Originally Posted by sakichop
Not really sure why you'd chose to play offline you never see or interact with anyone else. There aren't any invasions or anything like dark souls.

Have you ever dealt with the public? It isn't pretty. I find all the idiotic, non-Lore friendly "Gabe Newells" and "Hulks" to be very obnoxious. Plus, a lot of us find a lot of joy from finding the best gear for ourselves, so it is pretty lame to see these Infinite (200) level pawns with hacked gear.

Bottom line: the public are obnoxious and hiring hacked pawns ruins the game balance. But I'm a purist….and crazy some tell me…

Originally Posted by sakichop
As far as I can tell stronger pawns cost more RC.

Yep. Except if you friend someone you can rent their pawn for free. So people with …less willpower… will friend someone then rent their max level pawn. I don't recommend that! I go out of my way to hire lower level pawns from my friends to help them out.

Originally Posted by Brumbek
The rock item is because the player who rented your pawn was given a trading ban by the server. This ban can because of editing your save files or hacking. When that happens the game gives the owner a rock instead of whatever hacked item they might have tried to give you. …Or maybe they just gave you a rock…but unlikely.


Have you ever dealt with the public? It isn't pretty. I find all the idiotic, non-Lore friendly "Gabe Newells" and "Hulks" to be very obnoxious. Plus, a lot of us find a lot of joy from finding the best gear for ourselves, so it is pretty lame to see these Infinite (200) level pawns with hacked gear.

Bottom line: the public are obnoxious and hiring hacked pawns ruins the game balance. But I'm a purist….and crazy some tell me…

Oh, I have. Maybe I've just been lucky because I haven't experienced it yet in DD. If I do I can switch to offline or discard overpowered items.

You said your playing online now. Have you seen the problems on PC?

I played the entire game offline, wouldn't have played it any other way, and had a great time. I understood the whole pawn thing, but I just prefer my own associates, and didn't want them sullied by hanging around with folks that might not be like me . They might think I'm abnormal if others aren't tossing them off cliffs for the occasional mess-up!

Originally Posted by Carnifex
I played the entire game offline, wouldn't have played it any other way, and had a great time. I understood the whole pawn thing, but I just prefer my own associates, and didn't want them sullied by hanging around with folks that might not be like me . They might think I'm abnormal if others aren't tossing them off cliffs for the occasional mess-up!

Offline also has the benefit of a much more balanced Rift Crystal economy. On the PS3 I was always overjoyed to find more Rift Crystals while going through Bitterblack Isle (you need Rift Crystals for several very important things at end-game).

However, in playing Online, I was shocked, SHOCKED, to log in on the third or fourth day of release and find I'd been given 50,000+ Rift Crystals or so just for lending my pawn. That DESTROYS the proper balance of the end-game.

Now I have over a million Rift Crystals from Online…that's just plain crazy since it means all the Rift Crystal rewards of Bitterblack are basically pointless. Some like that imbalance, but to me it ruins the challenge and purity of the game.

Originally Posted by sakichop
You said your playing online now. Have you seen the problems on PC?

It's easy enough to just ignore the occasional Pawn with real-life names or comic-book names. And the game does have protection to prevent players from giving you hacked items and stuff, so that's good.

The only thing I see constantly is pawns with all the best Bitterblack gear…which saddens me because you're supposed to be excited to see that for yourself when you get there! It's kind of like already knowing what's in your presents. But new players wouldn't know which is which anyway, I suppose!

Wow…..I remember having to farm Bitter Isle just to have crystals to activate the rift room there, lol. Sounds like I took the long way on this game by playing offline, I guess.

Originally Posted by Brumbek
Offline also has the benefit of a much more balanced Rift Crystal economy. On the PS3 I was always overjoyed to find more Rift Crystals while going through Bitterblack Isle (you need Rift Crystals for several very important things at end-game).

However, in playing Online, I was shocked, SHOCKED, to log in on the third or fourth day of release and find I'd been given 50,000+ Rift Crystals or so just for lending my pawn. That DESTROYS the proper balance of the end-game.

Now I have over a million Rift Crystals from Online…that's just plain crazy since it means all the Rift Crystal rewards of Bitterblack are basically pointless. Some like that imbalance, but to me it ruins the challenge and purity of the game.



It's easy enough to just ignore the occasional Pawn with real-life names or comic-book names. And the game does have protection to prevent players from giving you hacked items and stuff, so that's good.

The only thing I see constantly is pawns with all the best Bitterblack gear…which saddens me because you're supposed to be excited to see that for yourself when you get there! It's kind of like already knowing what's in your presents. But new players wouldn't know which is which anyway, I suppose!

Valid concerns, if any of those become a problem I'll go offline.