Cappy
New Member
This is my message.
Posts: 644
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Post by Cappy on Oct 3, 2024 21:00:09 GMT
Back to Bitterblack Isle.
I finally made it to the very end, two flies in the ointment. Death and the final boss, even just scraping past level 100 the final boss was too much for me, he has a move that's very effective at stripping you of your pawns and without my support mage he wore me down. I nearly had him, just a third of his final health bar left.
Looked at more more broadly, despite the flaws with Dragon's Dogma it makes me very aware of what's missing from games these days that has me mostly playing games at least a decade old. It's that human element, expression, that you just don't get in today's homogenised product.
For instance Bitterblack has an area down in the dark depths with ankle deep water... So what? Then you are introduced to a minotaur that specialises in charging and bowling you over, it's weak to magic so somebody is going to have to stand still to cast. So you get knocked down again and again dowsing your lantern and repeatedly plunging you into a brutal fight in the dark. Even better, there is a high likelihood of a Elder Ogre Spawning, in pin-wheeeling armed frenzy also knocking you down into darkness. If you roll snake eyes can even end up fighting both at the same time.
Inspired by the spirit of pure mischief, somebody thought about how to cause maximum annoyance and set all this up. Those little touches are throughout Bitterblack Isle, it's those little surprises that kept me coming back, it takes an irritant to make a pearl after all.
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Post by quadfather on Oct 3, 2024 21:11:25 GMT
Hehe ace
You can put a portcrystal right outside blue moon if you want.
Fun quest though isn't it!
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Post by crashV👀d👀 on Oct 3, 2024 23:36:20 GMT
Hehe ace You can put a portcrystal right outside blue moon if you want. Fun quest though isn't it! I did and it was. In fact I've dropped a crystal off in front of nearly every castley/rampart looking building I've come across so I can jump back to them. |
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Post by crashV👀d👀 on Oct 4, 2024 6:52:57 GMT
I've started an investigation into Fournival and it's evidence is to be heard in 4 days. I'm rushing around trying to get some quests done just incase this is another one if those cut off points.
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Post by crashV👀d👀 on Oct 7, 2024 13:07:28 GMT
I only have kill X beasts type quests left and onto the final battle with the Greg the dragon. I can understand why people were disappointed with 2 because it's very much a retread of this game with all the similar story beats but all the enemies are essentially the same.
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Post by quadfather on Oct 7, 2024 13:09:03 GMT
Have you done the kill x undead at the Abbey? I always like that one.
Have you had a cut scene in gran soren yet, where it goes fairly batshit?
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Post by crashV👀d👀 on Oct 7, 2024 13:18:11 GMT
Only thing of note was the Cockatrice going apeshit in the craft quarters. I'm sure I've missed some quests that haven't triggered because of the way some things have played out.
There is also something with Reynard the peddler because I have 4 journal entries and one of them mentions him so assume his dad has written them. Guess I've not found them all.
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Post by quadfather on Oct 7, 2024 13:22:45 GMT
Only thing of note was the Cockatrice going apeshit in the craft quarters. I'm sure I've missed some quests that haven't triggered because of the way some things have played out. There is also something with Reynard the peddler because I have 4 journal entries and one of them mentions him so assume his dad has written them. Guess I've not found them all. Ah right. So gran soren looks fairly normal at the moment then yeah? Jolly good  Keep going. There's more. |
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Post by crashV👀d👀 on Oct 7, 2024 13:25:09 GMT
Interest arisen
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Post by quadfather on Oct 7, 2024 13:47:05 GMT
You'll know, trust me |
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Post by rhaegyr on Oct 7, 2024 13:59:54 GMT
I've finally got my teeth into the sequel.
I'm enjoying most of it, particularly exploring and combat which are excellent but a lot of the quests and their designs are bloody dire.
Sneak around, run there, change clothes, talk to him, pass time, run around the city, sneak some more, run there, talk to him, pass the time and repeat ad naseum.
Where's the quests to go kill a Griffin or a Hydra? Do they get substantially better at some point or are they always like this?
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wunty
Full Member
Pastry Forward
Posts: 6,673
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Post by wunty on Oct 7, 2024 14:16:26 GMT
The quests are shite and the plot is even worse. Rest of the game is so good it doesn't even seem to matter.
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Post by quadfather on Oct 7, 2024 14:50:34 GMT
Yeah there's a lot of jank. If you can get past that you'll be able to enjoy the gameplay though.
It's got some great things going on though for it. Like the utterly pitch black at night mechanic, super satisfying combat, the hilarity with massive fights with the pawns and ridiculously large monsters and some quite creepy areas to boot. Not to mention the fact you can borrow your mate's pawns too. And gift them.
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Post by rockavitch on Oct 7, 2024 14:56:59 GMT
I was just thinking myself when running past a few rabbits last night how much I missed those noticeboard quests of "kill X amount of X". Was a real filler thing but I liked having a few wee quests going on in the background as I often found myself needing like one more ogre or something and going off the beaten track trying to find one.
The main dress up again and again quest can sod off though.
Also don't like how they got rid of strider as a starting class. It should really have been there with the advanced vocations of that being the choice of archer or thief if they didn't want to do just straight up ranger again.
Either way it's more of the same mostly which is fine for me as it's been a while since I played the first, but hopefully there's another and they find a way to shake up the main plot a bit.
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Post by oldschoolsavant on Oct 7, 2024 15:10:35 GMT
Picked up on sale the other week too. It's a bit too big now I feel, the...blandness and vague quest descriptions reminded me of how much I'll miss without a guide (nostalgia for just how convulated some of the original's threads were) and lots of wandering has found me illegally border-hopping, just doing my own thing to find new gear etc and waltz through everything story later. Still don't feel comfortable taking on a drake at Lv37 though.  |
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Post by quadfather on Oct 7, 2024 16:45:22 GMT
I guess the first one has a bit of bottled magic, and the second one is a little more clinical?
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Post by crashV👀d👀 on Oct 7, 2024 17:39:14 GMT
I reckon if I'd played the first one first then I probably have lesser opinions of 2 however it was my first foray into this world and it's mechanics so while there is a bit of repetition, jank and a godawful story I farkin love it. Playing through one now I can see all the same stuff but dressed up with better quests and story (though the story is still a bit ropey in my future eyes).
What wins me over in both but more so 2 is the combat and the emergent crazyness that happens, so much so I've doubled down on it with mods that turn all that up to 11.
Also, after so many years of the yellow paint markers to go this way, icons all over and loads of other modern handholdy crap. Just going out into the world, exploring it and stumbling over amazing vistas, crazy battles or random landmarks still hasn't got old. I wish they'd brought the message board quests over from 1 to 2.
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Post by quadfather on Oct 7, 2024 18:07:28 GMT
Exactly!
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Post by Danno on Oct 7, 2024 18:45:11 GMT
I reckon if I'd played the first one first then I probably have lesser opinions of 2 however it was my first foray into this world and it's mechanics so while there is a bit of repetition, jank and a godawful story I farkin love it. Playing through one now I can see all the same stuff but dressed up with better quests and story (though the story is still a bit ropey in my future eyes). What wins me over in both but more so 2 is the combat and the emergent crazyness that happens, so much so I've doubled down on it with mods that turn all that up to 11. Also, after so many years of the yellow paint markers to go this way, icons all over and loads of other modern handholdy crap. Just going out into the world, exploring it and stumbling over amazing vistas, crazy battles or random landmarks still hasn't got old. I wish they'd brought the message board quests over from 1 to 2. Everyone just 'gets it'. It's a weird, alchemy type game that just grabs you and keeps you wondering what next |
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Post by oldschoolsavant on Oct 7, 2024 19:01:40 GMT
One quest I recently had to look up, because I'd run around and exhausted every option I thought possible, talking to so many npcs.
All I had to do was grab someone. By holding the throw button I pinned them, and a cutscene started.
I'd forgotten/never knew that was even possible. That's the sort of thing I do like, obscure as it is.
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Post by rockavitch on Oct 7, 2024 21:37:01 GMT
I found that out by accident too on someone causing me to "fail" a quest. Well I didn't actually fail it but judging from the outcome I definitely missed a few steps and got the bad one.
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Post by oldschoolsavant on Oct 14, 2024 6:22:43 GMT
I was feeling underwhelmed, firing through the last of the game yesterday, the finale, and thinking naaah, that can't be all.
Had to look it up mind, knowing the games trickery, and stumbled into the actual portion of DD2, seeing as how the title cards are differentiated.
Forgot to check the percentage on the achievement, but I bet it's not as high as it should be.
Edit: checked, only 17% have seen the true endgame. No wonder it's never been spoiled or teased in a clip somewhere.
And I've only found things during this that I've missed in the main game, like the entire elf place.
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