Dragons Dogma Dork Arisen

And of course, as is almost obligatory at this point, Penny Arcade touched on the matter a while back:

Um, no offence, but don't you get miffed every time The Guardian posts an article about wood burning stoves and post links to said articles in the thread?

Fair point but I don't think anyone here is furious with anger either and above all I'd say commenting about it on a gaming forum in a thread dedicated to the game is to be expected.

Fine to criticise something you still really enjoy (or will) imo. Appreciate it's an argument that's been done to death though!

Yeah fair enough. People need to vent, i agree. I just can't be arsed myself, but each to their own!

Fucking lenticular cases!

Wait, what are we complaining about?

Don't give in rhae! At least you haven't taken the blue pill like the rest in here.

Haha, well, if it's any consolation, I was planning on a few pints and then diving in, but I've now got to go bastard shopping and then get my haircut!!

I remember this being such a pain back in the day until fibre turned up.   5 minutes now.  Love it.

others just want to stir the pot somewhat ...









/stirs

Quick first impressions after a few hours with the game on PS5 (I’ve made it as far as the capital Vermund).

I’m playing as a Fighter, with my Pawn - Athena - as a Mage. One thing I would say is make sure to have a ranged option in your party, as those bloody harpies are a pain in the arse when you’re stuck with just a sword and shield. There is a harpy lure item I should probably try, and you can fairly quickly unlock a shield bash ability which lures enemies toward you, but I often found myself relying on Pawns and NPCs to deal with airborne enemies.

Night is every bit as terrifying as you’ve been told. Campsite packs are not too scarce, but they are single use, so I’d say it’s worth having 2 on you at any one time lest you get caught outside when the sun sets. My only death so far was because I thought I could keep going a little further at night time. That… didn’t end well.

Performance on PS5 is perfectly fine. There’s maybe a bit of slow down when everything is kicking off and there are lots of spell effects and enemies on screen all at once, but most of the time the game looks good and feels fine to play.

Pawn chatter is brilliantly mad as ever. I recruited one player pawn early on who was a near constant source of bickering and criticism - but he was really good at pointing out hidden treasures too. The chat is also good at letting you know when pawns learn something - “I’ll have to tell my master about this…” which makes you feel smug that you found something another player didn’t.

Minor spoiler but there are Pawn quests - you can set a task and reward when visiting a Grand Riftstone (first one is in the capital) so when another player recruits your pawn, they do the quest and get the reward. It’s possible to set the quest to require gathering of specific materials which - I believe - you then get when your pawn returns to you, so it’s a good way of the community helping each other out with finding rarer stuff.

Gear and levelling is similar to the first game, but it’s always satisfying to unlock new abilities. It’s very early days, but I’m already liking a planning my gear and upgrades and I’d say the availability of currency is about right. In reaching the capital the first time, I had just enough money to buy one amazing piece of gear, or 2-3 merely good ones. It doesn’t feel like things are out of reach, but also does make you consider your choices.

(You certainly don’t need to spend a penny on micro transactions.)

Basically, it’s really enjoyable so far and I really hope to be able to get some more time on it later!

Has anybody managed to find any of these ladders that my pawns are constantly wittering on about?

Haircut schmaircut. Just get some clippers and whip it all off every few weeks. Saves a fortune.

To be fair, it's my friend who comes round and does it for me for free. I just get a few pints in for her

Haha