Topic: Dragons Dogma 2

@Splat You aren’t really. The game is designed to be played multiple times so if you can’t stumble upon it, theoretically that is what NG+ is for.

Yeah. It locked me out of the Platinum which really sucks. I have the Platinum for the first game and wanted to get this one too.

Anyway if anyone wants to use a level 70 Warrior Pawn for zero RC feel free to add me. My PSN is Splathew. Just put DD2 in the comment please.

@ApostateMage Tim Roth: FO0Z40EDIR8J

I think I got it right with the 0's and O's. Skinny ones being zero, fat ones being Oh's 😅

I'm currently learning how to do some sorcery myself, probably too late to boost my magic attack and defense stats, but wanted to give it a quick try

OMG 🫢🤦‍♂️ I just blew up an armored cyclops with Meteoron, buuuuut my warrior and fighter rented pawns (hired for our protection) leapt into a canyon and the brine within as it happened, and thus exited my world leaving us two flimsy magicians wandering the world on our own 😂😂😂

This tale has ended...

Well, that didn't take long. We were instantly set upon by wolves, then the desert goblin things, survived that, kind of, then some kind of vampire harpies, and then skeletons and ghosts, so we made a run for it, Tim Roth got pushed into the ravine at some point and I ran through the darkness into a bandit camp where I just gave up trying to attack, defend or run as I was overwhelmed by everything at once and bitten and stabbed to death 😂😂😂😂😂

@Ravix Ooh cheers. I'm gonna hire him in a bit after the footy. I'll take good care of him, or him of me, Arisen.

@ApostateMage he will certainly add a rougish charm to proceedings 😅

Maaan, because of my recent gameplay I'm wondering whether to change up his skills a bit, but I've just ended up having the most insane session ever. After that which I edited in before until our untimely demise, we got respawned, just the two of us in the same spot, of course, but I decided to run the other way. Much of the same began, but I madly hired 2 wandering pawns during the utter hell that was unfolding, an archer and a third magic user 😅 but the new mage kept quickening me and I was popping incantations like mad, and getting full stamina back as soon as I'd hit each spell, and we blasted our way through goblins, garms, skeletons, undead, ghosts and finally we're able to camp. Then made the way back to the city to sort out what the heck I'm doing with my Pawns, and to add some skills to me as a level 1 sorcerer can't even levitate away from danger 😅 but we took out a bunch nore enemies on the way, so it got me thinking, maybe run a 2 mage 1 sorcerer crew for a while, as it is totally f***ing mental 😂

In fact, now I have hired what seems like a dedicated healer during the mad dash, I could switch TR back to sorcerer and run 2 sorcerer one healer mage for a mad power spell run, and then I can switch my main character back at some point down the line.

If you are still running Sorcerer it could be time to try a Sorcerer x2, mage and tank squad, if you haven't already.

I'm not sure how dual casting works, but maybe about to find out 😅

Finally found a Fell Lord Bone to max out my Pawns gear. It's the first crafting material I had to look up. It was the only one I didn't naturally came across.

VNU9WQTMRNFU

Nysterica, currently a sorcerer, if anybody needs a pawn to meteoron the hell out of even a single wolf encounter. Girl loves calling down those hot rocks.

I'm about to take Mr Orange himself out for a spin.

@ApostateMage

Meteorons for all 😅

Let me know if you want Roth changing class, I'll get to a city at some point for a Pawn reset before I stop for the evening, but right now double sorcery is hilarious and I've just randomly been following paths south to see what I find.

Saved your code too, so will check it at some point. But 3 sorcerers in one party, hmm? I'm now wondering the viability of even a 4 sorcerer party for a quick run out of a town and back again, just to get all 4 doing it at once on a single Ox 😆

Welp since I am a Warfarer with the Dragon’s Breath magick arrow I got payback on that Golem that ambushed me yesterday.

PSA: Give the Sphinx a portcrystal. Also your main pawn has an affinity level just like other NPCs. That’s why they increased your interactions with them. And that does impact the ending. I love all the hidden systems in this game.

@Ryu_Niiyama oooh, I hope it punishes those who are randomly drowning their pawns in a paranoia fuelled frenzy 🙏🙏🙏 delicious consequences would be very welcome for those mistreating their pawns. I've even heard of people drowning them just so they can dismiss them for a while 😵 (there's a wait command, come on people lol) When I'm done I'm going to see how everyone else's game ended in various ways 😁 I know I have a few regrets with some npcs so far, but nothing too major, I don't think.

I did, however, tell the sphinx that Tim Roth is my most beloved companion for one riddle 😆 which is mostly true, it also saved me a journey to try and find Ulrika, but we have forged quite a strong bond, I feel.

So much so that things started to get a little weird between us last night...

This game is mad 😂😂

@Ravix I buzz off him. Some of the things he says in his cockney voice had me laughing. Like when I collected the Godsbane sword and Tim was was like, "what a rare find, I wonder how much gold we'll get for it.".

I call him Tim Wrath because that motherf**ker loves to bring down pain, even on deers and rabbits.

@Ravix Yeah death lowers affinity. Granted it’s designed to be filled throughout your journey but yeah the game notes the serial killer Arisen. I don’t know what happens if it’s low affinity as I always try to be kind to my pawn but I am wondering if the game counts her jumping off a bridge after I dismissed a pawn with the plague. (Like actually dismissed not murdered) I crack jokes about the Brine but I have never done it. And it’s weird because she is fine with bridges otherwise and I hadn’t been teaching bad habits. Perhaps another Arisen was mean to her? I’m not sure.

Anyway yeah the Pawn to Sphinx answer boosts affinity. As well as hot springs (which also removes death scars), talking to pawns, and giving them dap, and giving them a hair cut (explains the price now). From what I read there is a cool down to keep you from raising affinity too quickly. But they will blush and speak more positively to you if they like you. Plus it seems to be a subtle commentary on being compelled to serve and caring for who they serve. (Makes me wonder if they get as panicked if you die like they do in the first game.) I like that it is sorta an inverse to dragonsplague and that the devs acknowledge trolls in a way. I wonder if low affinity pawns at a higher level are more susceptible to the plague?

My issue is I kinda want to blow through my first play through and get the regular ending and get the true ending on NG+ because I feel it was designed that way. But I am really enjoying just doing quests and grinding for money for gear. Plus I just unlocked dwarven smithing so I wanna redo some of my gear.

@ApostateMage haha 😆 good to hear. He ranges from cheeky to sarcy quite a bit too 😁 You've overtaken me quest wise as I just did random exploring last night and I basically just kept going in one direction with no real purpose until I plopped into a spring. I think I left TR at lv52 though, so some progress made.

Got to get back on those quests tonight and stip messing around as a sorcerer though haha, and I can simply let him guide me there 😁

@Ravix

@Ralizah Hoy! 'Tis what it is ☺️

@Ryu_Niiyama yeah, I'm not too concerned with the actual systems in play, but I'm really glad they are there working away in the background. I want my decisions to mean something to me and the world, and so far as it's a first run, I'm playing it mostly as an extension of me, and just taking care of my good buddies and looking for amiable solutions rather than the "rinse and rehire". And the few times I've been coaxed in to more questionable decisions with NPC's it actually made me think about my actions anyway, just from in game comments. Like one guy I handed a fake item to, and a pawn said "I think we done him dirty there" or some such equivalent in terms of yore. And I was thinking, "urgh, I know" and I instantly regret it, but wanted gold in that one moment, and being excited that I got to test out the forgery feature 😅😅

And the whole Wilhelmina thing, but that was morally grey and incredibly good drama not to be missed, and apart from not realising how to leave the right evidence based on the item slot not being obvious in the menu, I was okay with my decision. Although, I do feel bad that

but I'm prepared to accept the consequences for my quite brutal actions 😅

@ApostateMage just reworking my party so I can try out Magick Archer for this sesh, and hired some random fighter and the notorious Thief, Nysterica...

😮‍💨😮‍💨😮‍💨

I will try to make sure the fighter is the one who has it and send them on their way after a few camps in the wild, I guess 😂😂😂 I was going to switch TR to a mage and rest at an Inn to reset on the server, but may skip the Inn rest for now 😵

@Ravix Oh no! Gonna check Nysterica over and prepare to throw her in the sea. I was about to hire a pawn I had previously when I noticed she had red eyes. I'm curious to see how they behave though.
I need to re-hire Timmy boy because he's level 50 in my party and I'm now 59.

I still haven't got Magic Archer. I did all the quests for the elves thinking it was taught by them but it's from a place I haven't been to yet.

@ApostateMage yeah, I assumed it'd be from the first Elven woman after her brother was an archer too lol.

Okay, so I came here just now to say, sadly Nysterica fell off into the same ravine as those other ones yesterday, so potentially problem solved due to her falling off an armoured cyclops as it toppled over and into the brine 😅😅😅 I'm going to avoid this route from now on, it is nothing but trouble.

We still have to keep an eye out from this point on in case it transfered to Nysterica or Tim Roth, if it was on Nysterica at the timenof her plunge, then the accidental brining would have helped, I guess lol. Not sure how that transfers back to your world and game. Be interesting to see the mechanics play out.

I've re-hired Nysterica anyway, as 10 minutes and a plunge was not the best start to the adventure.

I need to level up some too, so I'm slowly trying to get back to where the main quest is

@Ravix is this your first dragon’s dogma? I mentioned the systems because they are what make the series have its flair. Even if the results are sometimes hilarious. Huh didn’t know you could get Wilhelmina arrested. I just love the lore of the series so I like to dig in and role play. I got an annoying result to a quest though. I did the sculpture quest and got the best outcome but apparently my pawn had been on the tail end of this quest with another player because she was like “Oh my master and I got an inferior result “. Meanwhile I am looking at her like “you traitor!”

General Topic: Sooo, while I know this game is a sequel/soft reboot (pulls from the online version as well) I am starting to feel like all the Arisen in the first game succeeded in simply ending their cycle early and passing the burden on to the pawn. I think the pawn kicked off the new version of bestowal of spirit until it got to the sea floor shrine beholder. Now I have yet to beat the game but I think by then cracks were beginning to show and the cycle got reworked a bit to its current state. Where the Arisen is actively a ruler and their burden leaves them more ingratiated with the people (as a course correction to keep anyone else from trying to break the cycle). It leaves an interesting point of reflection if it means that the first game Arisen actually failed. I love the lore for this series.

I've just unlocked Magic Archer from a random escort side quest. The traipse through a dark, goblin infested mountain cave was great though and gave me proper Lord of the Rings vibes. It was made even better because I did it as I was levelling up my fighter vocation which I'm not particularly fond of playing. Shielding off hoards of goblins whilst Nysterica (Thief), Tim Roth (Sorcerer) and Catharina (Mage) did all the damage was really enjoying and satisfying. Loved it.