So my three affinities are Utilitarin / Scather / Mendicant. I have Scather on my Sorcerer just cause it seems like it makes em apply High Miasma more reliably on the big targets, and similarly more often targets the High Glicel where it matters.
Though, I am willing to try another combination of affinities for a little bit.
I do have a quick targeting spell, in the form of simple unupgraded Comestion. The rest is Holy Affinity (so they can use Holy Focused Bolt) and High Lassitude. I'm not firm on the last spell -- I've tried High Fulmination, and High Necromancy.
Did my first play through. It wasn’t until post game where I actually noticed debilitations. Only carried health/stamina stuff until then. What are the most efficient status cures my party should be carrying? It feels like there are too many status debuffs and an item for each one. Just loading up on panceas seems the easiest.
For general use, get a Mage with High Halidom, give them a couple of the curatives that removes sleep, silence and skill stifling, give everyone a couple secret softeners for petrifaction, and you are set.
I also usually carry a few Light-Cures, Intervenes, and Panaceas for myself in case I need to remove something right the fuck now, and not wait for the mage pawn to remove it for me.
Also keep in mind that the right equipment setup can make you resistant or even outright immune to certain debilitations. If you are hunting Death, for example, you probably want a gear setup that makes you immune to sleep, especially if you are running around as a Sorcerer or Mystic Knight who need to take advantage of those seconds he spends trying to put you to sleep to do the most damage to him.
This is finally on sale again on PS4 so I am picking it up. $18 is a great price for this and I have been wanting to pick it up since this the switch version came out.
Started playing the switch version and it looks and plays really well. There's some pop-in but it's pretty minor. I just switched my vocation to Mystic Knight but wanted to ask about Ranger or Magick Archer as comparables for fun game play. What do people enjoy playing more?
Edit: Also I got my first 14 levels as a Fighter. Is it too late to switch now?
Started playing the switch version and it looks and plays really well. There's some pop-in but it's pretty minor. I just switched my vocation to Mystic Knight but wanted to ask about Ranger or Magick Archer as comparables for fun game play. What do people enjoy playing more?
Edit: Also I got my first 14 levels as a Fighter. Is it too late to switch now?
No you can switch whenever. You can maximize a stat or two by focusing on only playing specific classes but honestly it is not super necessary. The game is not that punishing and, especially with BBI, most of your stats come from gear.
Gamertag: KL Retribution
PSN:Furlion
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IceBurnerIt's cold and there are penguins.Registered Userregular
Went all the way to bloodwater beach before realizing I didn’t have a port crystal on hand.
Hope you picked the cliffs clean of grapes. You can turn them into red wine with bottled water and some time.
While you'll find the most grapes among the cliffs there, there are at least five along the way from Cassardis to South Gransys: 3 in Dripstone cave, and at least two more along the wolf-infested westward pass, quite near Dripstone's rear exit.
Started playing the switch version and it looks and plays really well. There's some pop-in but it's pretty minor. I just switched my vocation to Mystic Knight but wanted to ask about Ranger or Magick Archer as comparables for fun game play. What do people enjoy playing more?
Of those three? Probably Magick Archer. Have a ton of useful skills, plus Bitterblack Isle suits them so well it almost seems purpose-built for them to shine. Mystic Knight is a blast too, though, especially once you master perfect blocks and get into some shenanigans with their shield enchants.
Ranger can still be fun, however. They're basically Warriors that can stand back and aim from afar for their one shot for massive damage, only you can do other insane stuff like combine Tenfold Flurry with Blast Arrows and kill the meanest monsters in the game in seconds flat. Or if that's outside your budget, go with Whirling Arrow so you only need a couple of specialty arrows to keep your opponent permanently sleep, blinded or silenced.
Finally, two other vocations you'll see a lot of people swear by are Striders and Assassins. Striders climb monsters faster than any other vocation, making it easy to get to the right spot to unleash Hundred Kisses, plus have skills like Skull Splitter and Cloudburst Volley for those times when it's not feasible. While Assassins are extremely flexible, both from being able to equip Swords, daggers, shields and shortbows, but also from the skills within there. Want spammable damage abilities for your sword in the vein of Hundred Kisses? Windmill Slash for on foot and Gouge for on monsters. Counter skills with invulnerability frames for daggers? You have Back Kick/Escape Onslaught for your Hindsight Slash and Masterful Kill for, well Masterfull Kill is pretty unique. You can also increase attack and movement speed with Gale Harness for daggers and damage at the expense of defense with Showdown for Shields. Bows are kinda their weak spot however, as their only unique skill worth anything is Keen/Lyncean Sight, but it's always great to have a bow for all those times you need a bow and you didn't bring a Ranger pawn that's primary Utilitarian.
Is there any downside to switching vocations to try it out and then swapping back if I don't like it?
If you are anal about stat growth, you might not like leveling in a vocation that might not have the stats you want, but otherwise just the annoyance of swapping gear out.
I was looking over the trophy guide for the ps4 version. Found a video to hit 70 in about 30 minutes from waking up in your room. Don't mind if I do! Anyone playing on the ps4 feel free to add me so we can swap pawns.
So I'm around level 30ish I think on my Magick Archer. Still fun but I sometimes don't know how to approach combat. I'm on normal difficulty, and right now regular humanoid sized enemies tend to die really quick, but huge monsters take a fairly long while and I can't tell if daggers are more effective than the bow. I really like ranged combat so I would prefer to stick with that, and I am thinking of swapping daggers for the staff as well. Which again makes me start eyeballing the Sorcerer to blow stuff up in the craziest way. At this level is it too late to switch or again does it not really matter so long as I have the Discipline points and want to spend them?
If I stay as a magick archer I also don't really know how to gear my guy. It seems like my magick bow raises my Magic, but that if I bump my magic with a staff it apparently doesn't make a difference to my bow damage?
I started playing this over the weekend. Hit level 40. Did 10-40 as a sorcerer for the magic growth then switched to mystic Knight. Just got magic cannon but didn't get to play with it yet. I started on normal, got the ring of perseverance from BBI, swapped to hard mode and got a second one for my pawn. Otherwise no BBI stuff. Just about to start the 4th wyrm hunt quest. I still love this game.
Gamertag: KL Retribution
PSN:Furlion
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GoodKingJayIIIThey wanna get mygold on the ceilingRegistered Userregular
How’s framerate on PS4? Locked at 30 fps? Can it hit 50/60? I’m not a big stickler for this stuff, I’d just prefer that it run smoothly.
So I'm around level 30ish I think on my Magick Archer. Still fun but I sometimes don't know how to approach combat. I'm on normal difficulty, and right now regular humanoid sized enemies tend to die really quick, but huge monsters take a fairly long while and I can't tell if daggers are more effective than the bow. I really like ranged combat so I would prefer to stick with that, and I am thinking of swapping daggers for the staff as well. Which again makes me start eyeballing the Sorcerer to blow stuff up in the craziest way. At this level is it too late to switch or again does it not really matter so long as I have the Discipline points and want to spend them?
If I stay as a magick archer I also don't really know how to gear my guy. It seems like my magick bow raises my Magic, but that if I bump my magic with a staff it apparently doesn't make a difference to my bow damage?
With daggers vs. large monsters, if you aren't using Kisses while grabbing on to their weak spot, and it isn't because said spot is at ground level or you're a strider spamming Skull Splitter instead, you are doing it wrong.
Magick bows, unfortunately, don't quite reach the level of awesomeness that they do in BBI as in the base game. This is largely because all spell-like MA skills have a specific element that does not change based on enchantments (unlike Mystic Knight, where Magick Cannon, Perilous Sigil and their upgrades do take on enchantments) and the element doesn't line up with skill's quirk in Gransys as often as it does in BBI. There aren't as many instances where you are fighting a deadly monster weak to lightning in a tight corridor in the base game for Ricochet Seeker/Hunter to truly shine, but "Deadly Monster weak to lighting that is fought (or can be drawn into) a tight corridor" describes at least three monsters that can fuck you over, all of which are common enough on their own to bring the skill along. (That said, they're are enough deadly monsters in tight corridors in general where Ricochet seeker can more than make up for being not quite the right element for the job.)
And yeah, the big monsters are going to be a drawn out fight for a while. It gets a bit faster once you know their weak spots and elements and bring them along where you tend to run into them. Also, keep in mind that the shops update their offering based on story progression, so once you are aware that you've tackled all the sidequests that might fail for holding off too long, it's best to continue the story so new stuff can show up.
...And it's never too late to swap vocations. One neat thing is that all the "base" weapons (sword, dagger, (arch)staff, shortbow, and shield) have a set of base skills that are shared across all vocations. For staves, it's the first and second tier Fire/Ice/Lightning spell, so swapping to Sorcerer will still let you use any of those skills you might have unlocked on your MA, even if you aren't at the vocation rank to have unlocked them on your Sorc.
How’s framerate on PS4? Locked at 30 fps? Can it hit 50/60? I’m not a big stickler for this stuff, I’d just prefer that it run smoothly.
No slow down so far but the occasional jarring pop in. If it is not locked to 30 it is that or higher so far on my original ps4. You may want to check out some technical reviews to know for sure if it is that important though. Can't wait to get on tonight, thinking about trying the drake in devilfire Grove. I think 40 should be high enough and I have a lot of gear at 3 stars.
Tried out mystic knight for a bit last night. Great cannon does not fuck around. I just wish the weapon buffs lasted longer. I am probably going to hop around and pick up some augments tonight.
Swapped over to Sorcerer last night. Even with just some regular staff skills carried over from Magick Archer it's still pretty dang fun to blow stuff up. I'm having a hard time deciding what class's playstyle I like the most. Also, as per some suggestions I've skipped most escort quests with the exception of one. And now some have disappeared from being options under the job board. Have I missed anything important? What happened to Madeline? I found her in the tavern of the capital city once but since then I can't find her.
GoodKingJayIIIThey wanna get mygold on the ceilingRegistered Userregular
I think maybe I’ll play this again after I’m finished with ME Andromeda. How active is the PC community?
Also I’m kind of afraid I’ll just end up playing a magick archer again because they’re so fucking good. My first character was a mystic knight but I ended up not liking that at all.
Maybe a ranger, or I’ll just play a sorcerer walking around in circles with fulmination
Swapped over to Sorcerer last night. Even with just some regular staff skills carried over from Magick Archer it's still pretty dang fun to blow stuff up. I'm having a hard time deciding what class's playstyle I like the most. Also, as per some suggestions I've skipped most escort quests with the exception of one. And now some have disappeared from being options under the job board. Have I missed anything important? What happened to Madeline? I found her in the tavern of the capital city once but since then I can't find her.
Again, this is a game where stuff just kind of disappears after a while, missed opportunities and such. Madeleine is complicated and has a long series of quests you can get locked out of for doing the wrong thing, sometimes she's around, sometimes she's not. https://dragonsdogma.fandom.com/wiki/Madeleine
I ignored nearly all the escort quests. It's good to know that they are essentially fluff, generated/boring content that exists for every NPC in the game for no particular reason, and they are not recorded anywhere for the purposes of unlocking things or achievements (not that Switch has achievements).
Tried out mystic knight for a bit last night. Great cannon does not fuck around. I just wish the weapon buffs lasted longer. I am probably going to hop around and pick up some augments tonight.
There is a Mage augment that buffs enchantment duration, pretty much required for Mystic Knight.
You can also try to bring a pawn with the enchant as well, but you eventually want to be able to do at least one enchant yourself. Not only is it more utility to be able to override the mage's enchant when needed, MK weapon enchants give a much larger boost to Magick than the Mage/Sorc version.
Sorcerer was definitely my favorite class.
I just love the tornado spells, especially if your companion is also a sorcerer for double tornadoes.
Meteor storm is also nice, but less usefull in most fights.
Start out as mage, race to the big city, become a sorcerer asap, then go forth to maximice your magic stats and kill enemies who did not even know you were there with megaspells cast from out of detection range.
That said, the assassin is also great for climbing things and stabbing them, and mystic knight has its charms as well.
Never did warm up to magic archer, dunno why.
For the first play through I always tell people to pick a physical class. The magic classes and hybrids are great. But the biggest selling point of this games combat to me is the ability to climb monsters. I know eventually they added that into monster hunter but it is not the same. The ability to climb onto a cyclops and do a flurry of dagger strikes directly into its fucking eye is so cool.
All the classes are great though. I do wish they have anodyne to one other class though. It means you either need a dedicated mage or to sacrifice a bunch of weight to healing stuff.
For the first play through I always tell people to pick a physical class. The magic classes and hybrids are great. But the biggest selling point of this games combat to me is the ability to climb monsters. I know eventually they added that into monster hunter but it is not the same. The ability to climb onto a cyclops and do a flurry of dagger strikes directly into its fucking eye is so cool.
All the classes are great though. I do wish they have anodyne to one other class though. It means you either need a dedicated mage or to sacrifice a bunch of weight to healing stuff.
Magick Archer with MK's Resoration augment, Grand Susasion, and Greater Ward Arrow. GWA is secretly High Halidom and High Voidspell combined into one, since anything that makes you immune to debilitations also removes any already on you. (Better than the two combined, in fact, since if you can't get drenched, your lamp can't go out either) while Grand Susasion is probably the best way to restore white health damage without Anodyne since it proc's holy's heal effect so often. Restoration is for "healing" your pawns, namely reviving them with more health.
Alternatively, you can go Mystic Knight with some Immortal's pieces (I particularly like the look of the arms and sabatons with the Animistic robe and a matching shoulder-covering cloak) and Holy Grace, which can restore even black damage on a perfect block. This does mean bringing curatives for debilitations though.
Otherwise, you'll be replacing that Mage with Anodyne with a Sorc with Holy Affinity or Pact. Specifically those, because they also increase the chance for the Holy "status effect" that results in healing. Best for Strider and Assassin, though Fighter and Warriors will probably have to rely more on that Immortal's armor and not getting hit too often in a short span.
For the first play through I always tell people to pick a physical class. The magic classes and hybrids are great. But the biggest selling point of this games combat to me is the ability to climb monsters. I know eventually they added that into monster hunter but it is not the same. The ability to climb onto a cyclops and do a flurry of dagger strikes directly into its fucking eye is so cool.
All the classes are great though. I do wish they have anodyne to one other class though. It means you either need a dedicated mage or to sacrifice a bunch of weight to healing stuff.
Magick Archer with MK's Resoration augment, Grand Susasion, and Greater Ward Arrow. GWA is secretly High Halidom and High Voidspell combined into one, since anything that makes you immune to debilitations also removes any already on you. (Better than the two combined, in fact, since if you can't get drenched, your lamp can't go out either) while Grand Susasion is probably the best way to restore white health damage without Anodyne since it proc's holy's heal effect so often. Restoration is for "healing" your pawns, namely reviving them with more health.
Alternatively, you can go Mystic Knight with some Immortal's pieces (I particularly like the look of the arms and sabatons with the Animistic robe and a matching shoulder-covering cloak) and Holy Grace, which can restore even black damage on a perfect block. This does mean bringing curatives for debilitations though.
Otherwise, you'll be replacing that Mage with Anodyne with a Sorc with Holy Affinity or Pact. Specifically those, because they also increase the chance for the Holy "status effect" that results in healing. Best for Strider and Assassin, though Fighter and Warriors will probably have to rely more on that Immortal's armor and not getting hit too often in a short span.
That might cut it on normal but in hard you need a dedicated healer or you are going to spend a lot if time in the menus. I didn't realize magic knights could heal with perfect blocks but that requires me to be in combat and land a perfect block. The immortal set is not really enough to make do either. Maybe outside of combat while running from one fight to the next but goblin size enemies can knock half my health off in one hit.
For the first play through I always tell people to pick a physical class. The magic classes and hybrids are great. But the biggest selling point of this games combat to me is the ability to climb monsters. I know eventually they added that into monster hunter but it is not the same. The ability to climb onto a cyclops and do a flurry of dagger strikes directly into its fucking eye is so cool.
All the classes are great though. I do wish they have anodyne to one other class though. It means you either need a dedicated mage or to sacrifice a bunch of weight to healing stuff.
Magick Archer with MK's Resoration augment, Grand Susasion, and Greater Ward Arrow. GWA is secretly High Halidom and High Voidspell combined into one, since anything that makes you immune to debilitations also removes any already on you. (Better than the two combined, in fact, since if you can't get drenched, your lamp can't go out either) while Grand Susasion is probably the best way to restore white health damage without Anodyne since it proc's holy's heal effect so often. Restoration is for "healing" your pawns, namely reviving them with more health.
Alternatively, you can go Mystic Knight with some Immortal's pieces (I particularly like the look of the arms and sabatons with the Animistic robe and a matching shoulder-covering cloak) and Holy Grace, which can restore even black damage on a perfect block. This does mean bringing curatives for debilitations though.
Otherwise, you'll be replacing that Mage with Anodyne with a Sorc with Holy Affinity or Pact. Specifically those, because they also increase the chance for the Holy "status effect" that results in healing. Best for Strider and Assassin, though Fighter and Warriors will probably have to rely more on that Immortal's armor and not getting hit too often in a short span.
That might cut it on normal but in hard you need a dedicated healer or you are going to spend a lot if time in the menus. I didn't realize magic knights could heal with perfect blocks but that requires me to be in combat and land a perfect block. The immortal set is not really enough to make do either. Maybe outside of combat while running from one fight to the next but goblin size enemies can knock half my health off in one hit.
Are you starting a fresh character on hard? Or are you further along? In either case if I'm in an area where normal enemies are taking half my health on a hit I'm not going to trust the mage pawn to land a heal in time regardless.
Mk's Holy aid heals on any block, it's just more with the potential to go beyond normal healing on a perfect one. Other possibility is to avoid damage altogether with Assassin and Masterful Kill. Specifically Masterful Kill, not Easy Kill, because Masterful can hold the counter stance indefinitely, and once triggered it's invuln frames until it does damage, which on large monsters will also put you behind them. Just make sure you also use a shield for ranged, spells and other AoE attacks.
For the first play through I always tell people to pick a physical class. The magic classes and hybrids are great. But the biggest selling point of this games combat to me is the ability to climb monsters. I know eventually they added that into monster hunter but it is not the same. The ability to climb onto a cyclops and do a flurry of dagger strikes directly into its fucking eye is so cool.
All the classes are great though. I do wish they have anodyne to one other class though. It means you either need a dedicated mage or to sacrifice a bunch of weight to healing stuff.
Magick Archer with MK's Resoration augment, Grand Susasion, and Greater Ward Arrow. GWA is secretly High Halidom and High Voidspell combined into one, since anything that makes you immune to debilitations also removes any already on you. (Better than the two combined, in fact, since if you can't get drenched, your lamp can't go out either) while Grand Susasion is probably the best way to restore white health damage without Anodyne since it proc's holy's heal effect so often. Restoration is for "healing" your pawns, namely reviving them with more health.
Alternatively, you can go Mystic Knight with some Immortal's pieces (I particularly like the look of the arms and sabatons with the Animistic robe and a matching shoulder-covering cloak) and Holy Grace, which can restore even black damage on a perfect block. This does mean bringing curatives for debilitations though.
Otherwise, you'll be replacing that Mage with Anodyne with a Sorc with Holy Affinity or Pact. Specifically those, because they also increase the chance for the Holy "status effect" that results in healing. Best for Strider and Assassin, though Fighter and Warriors will probably have to rely more on that Immortal's armor and not getting hit too often in a short span.
That might cut it on normal but in hard you need a dedicated healer or you are going to spend a lot if time in the menus. I didn't realize magic knights could heal with perfect blocks but that requires me to be in combat and land a perfect block. The immortal set is not really enough to make do either. Maybe outside of combat while running from one fight to the next but goblin size enemies can knock half my health off in one hit.
Are you starting a fresh character on hard? Or are you further along? In either case if I'm in an area where normal enemies are taking half my health on a hit I'm not going to trust the mage pawn to land a heal in time regardless.
Mk's Holy aid heals on any block, it's just more with the potential to go beyond normal healing on a perfect one. Other possibility is to avoid damage altogether with Assassin and Masterful Kill. Specifically Masterful Kill, not Easy Kill, because Masterful can hold the counter stance indefinitely, and once triggered it's invuln frames until it does damage, which on large monsters will also put you behind them. Just make sure you also use a shield for ranged, spells and other AoE attacks.
That's a good point, and yeah I started on hard. I can drop enemies pretty fast but if anyone manages to get to me it is almost always over. I do have a lot of spare cash at the moment so I am tempted to just stuff my pawn full of healing items and swap them to a different class. I am actually playing a mage at the moment so I am doing the healing. With decent success although I completely spaced on Anodyne being placed instead of auto targeting. I am doing the gryphon hunt and lost about 15 minutes of progress thanks to getting one shot by a random bandit near bluemoon tower. Oh well.
So I'm dipping my toes into the DLC Island, just a bit before ending the main game.
I'm trying to wrap my head around how this stuff works with Purifying Bitter Black stuff, I think I mostly get it, but I have a hopefully clarifying question.
Is each Category (i.e. Gear/Weapon/Armor/Novelty) treated as it's own track? Meaning if I would get the results: Saving Grace (Red), Stalwart Bow (Yellow), or Frigid Finger (Blue) with my one particular Bitterblack Weapon Lvl 1, that's it -- I can only get a potentially different weapon from that loot pool by purifying a subsequent, second Bitterblack Weapon Lvl 1?
I.E. it doesn't matter if I purify from another category (i.e. Novelties or Armors), or even if I purified a Bitterblack Weapon Lvl 2, beforehand that Bitterblack Weapon Lvl 1 is set in stone to be one of those three.
Do I understand it right?
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IceBurnerIt's cold and there are penguins.Registered Userregular
edited June 2019
Pretty much, you're just missing the bit where each fixed result is a table of three items, one per vocation color. You can exploit this to pick from among the three possibilities: Checkpoint at the bench beforehand, change your Arisen and Pawn's vocations to the same color, check the result, then reload from checkpoint and try another color. After finding out what each color may yield, redo one last time to pick your favorite.
Note that items usable by multiple class colors may be the result for two or even all three colors. This happens often with results yielding cloaks, shirts, leggings, and non-skill rings.
Novelties are the exception and don't vary with vocation colors.
Specific technical details within:
Each level and type of cursed item has a fixed-sequence of thousands of purification results. Your starting point in each is seeded only upon starting a new game. Each of these sequences advances only when you purify that exact type of cursed item, and your progress in each is saved.
Except for Novelties, every step along each sequence is in fact a set of three items, one for each vocation color: red, yellow, and blue.
When purifying, your Arisen and Pawn's current vocation colors are treated as a pool of equally-weighted outcomes. The game chooses one randomly and gives you that color's item. Example:
Your Bitterblack Weapon Lv. 2 purification sequence is up to these as the next set:
Red - Twinpaler
Yellow - Dragon's Glaze
Blue - Melting Focus
Your Arisen is a Magick Knight, and your Pawn is a Strider: Your colors are red, blue, and yellow, so you could get any one of those items.
Your Arisen is a Warrior, and your Pawn is a Strider: Your colors are red and yellow, so you could get Twinpaler or Dragon's Glaze.
Your Arisen is a Fighter, and your Pawn is a Warrior: Your colors are both red. You will get Twinpaler.
So for Novelties do you simply ignore switching Vocations to influence them and let come what may, or do you specifically emphasize going down one track? Does it matter?
So for Novelties do you simply ignore switching Vocations to influence them and let come what may, or do you specifically emphasize going down one track? Does it matter?
Novelties it doesn't matter at all.
Gear may lure you into thinking that it only matters for vocation rings, but sometimes there might be a vocation ring as one possibility and two stat rings as the others (or visa versa) so you still need to check each color.
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IceBurnerIt's cold and there are penguins.Registered Userregular
edited June 2019
They're "come what may", as you said.
Each level of novelty has its own unchanging sequence of single items. Nothing you can do in the game will influence the purification result.
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Though, I am willing to try another combination of affinities for a little bit.
I do have a quick targeting spell, in the form of simple unupgraded Comestion. The rest is Holy Affinity (so they can use Holy Focused Bolt) and High Lassitude. I'm not firm on the last spell -- I've tried High Fulmination, and High Necromancy.
For general use, get a Mage with High Halidom, give them a couple of the curatives that removes sleep, silence and skill stifling, give everyone a couple secret softeners for petrifaction, and you are set.
I also usually carry a few Light-Cures, Intervenes, and Panaceas for myself in case I need to remove something right the fuck now, and not wait for the mage pawn to remove it for me.
Also keep in mind that the right equipment setup can make you resistant or even outright immune to certain debilitations. If you are hunting Death, for example, you probably want a gear setup that makes you immune to sleep, especially if you are running around as a Sorcerer or Mystic Knight who need to take advantage of those seconds he spends trying to put you to sleep to do the most damage to him.
PSN:Furlion
Edit: Also I got my first 14 levels as a Fighter. Is it too late to switch now?
No you can switch whenever. You can maximize a stat or two by focusing on only playing specific classes but honestly it is not super necessary. The game is not that punishing and, especially with BBI, most of your stats come from gear.
PSN:Furlion
While you'll find the most grapes among the cliffs there, there are at least five along the way from Cassardis to South Gransys: 3 in Dripstone cave, and at least two more along the wolf-infested westward pass, quite near Dripstone's rear exit.
PSN: theIceBurner, IceBurnerEU, IceBurner-JP | X-Link Kai: TheIceBurner
Dragon's Dogma: 192 Warrior Linty | 80 Strider Alicia | 32 Mage Terra
Of those three? Probably Magick Archer. Have a ton of useful skills, plus Bitterblack Isle suits them so well it almost seems purpose-built for them to shine. Mystic Knight is a blast too, though, especially once you master perfect blocks and get into some shenanigans with their shield enchants.
Ranger can still be fun, however. They're basically Warriors that can stand back and aim from afar for their one shot for massive damage, only you can do other insane stuff like combine Tenfold Flurry with Blast Arrows and kill the meanest monsters in the game in seconds flat. Or if that's outside your budget, go with Whirling Arrow so you only need a couple of specialty arrows to keep your opponent permanently sleep, blinded or silenced.
Finally, two other vocations you'll see a lot of people swear by are Striders and Assassins. Striders climb monsters faster than any other vocation, making it easy to get to the right spot to unleash Hundred Kisses, plus have skills like Skull Splitter and Cloudburst Volley for those times when it's not feasible. While Assassins are extremely flexible, both from being able to equip Swords, daggers, shields and shortbows, but also from the skills within there. Want spammable damage abilities for your sword in the vein of Hundred Kisses? Windmill Slash for on foot and Gouge for on monsters. Counter skills with invulnerability frames for daggers? You have Back Kick/Escape Onslaught for your Hindsight Slash and Masterful Kill for, well Masterfull Kill is pretty unique. You can also increase attack and movement speed with Gale Harness for daggers and damage at the expense of defense with Showdown for Shields. Bows are kinda their weak spot however, as their only unique skill worth anything is Keen/Lyncean Sight, but it's always great to have a bow for all those times you need a bow and you didn't bring a Ranger pawn that's primary Utilitarian.
It's kind of a faff to have to reequip everything and store it (because it all takes up weight). But other than that there's really no downside.
If you are anal about stat growth, you might not like leveling in a vocation that might not have the stats you want, but otherwise just the annoyance of swapping gear out.
PSN:Furlion
Really like the bow skills. Ricochet hunter feels really overpowered while in dungeons and indoors.
If I stay as a magick archer I also don't really know how to gear my guy. It seems like my magick bow raises my Magic, but that if I bump my magic with a staff it apparently doesn't make a difference to my bow damage?
Archer gets the curse spell but it ain't that useful.
The class relies of good gear as the stats growths ain't that great.
Madeleine usually has a greater variety of magick daggers on sale.
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
PSN:Furlion
With daggers vs. large monsters, if you aren't using Kisses while grabbing on to their weak spot, and it isn't because said spot is at ground level or you're a strider spamming Skull Splitter instead, you are doing it wrong.
Magick bows, unfortunately, don't quite reach the level of awesomeness that they do in BBI as in the base game. This is largely because all spell-like MA skills have a specific element that does not change based on enchantments (unlike Mystic Knight, where Magick Cannon, Perilous Sigil and their upgrades do take on enchantments) and the element doesn't line up with skill's quirk in Gransys as often as it does in BBI. There aren't as many instances where you are fighting a deadly monster weak to lightning in a tight corridor in the base game for Ricochet Seeker/Hunter to truly shine, but "Deadly Monster weak to lighting that is fought (or can be drawn into) a tight corridor" describes at least three monsters that can fuck you over, all of which are common enough on their own to bring the skill along. (That said, they're are enough deadly monsters in tight corridors in general where Ricochet seeker can more than make up for being not quite the right element for the job.)
And yeah, the big monsters are going to be a drawn out fight for a while. It gets a bit faster once you know their weak spots and elements and bring them along where you tend to run into them. Also, keep in mind that the shops update their offering based on story progression, so once you are aware that you've tackled all the sidequests that might fail for holding off too long, it's best to continue the story so new stuff can show up.
...And it's never too late to swap vocations. One neat thing is that all the "base" weapons (sword, dagger, (arch)staff, shortbow, and shield) have a set of base skills that are shared across all vocations. For staves, it's the first and second tier Fire/Ice/Lightning spell, so swapping to Sorcerer will still let you use any of those skills you might have unlocked on your MA, even if you aren't at the vocation rank to have unlocked them on your Sorc.
No slow down so far but the occasional jarring pop in. If it is not locked to 30 it is that or higher so far on my original ps4. You may want to check out some technical reviews to know for sure if it is that important though. Can't wait to get on tonight, thinking about trying the drake in devilfire Grove. I think 40 should be high enough and I have a lot of gear at 3 stars.
PSN:Furlion
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
PSN:Furlion
Also I’m kind of afraid I’ll just end up playing a magick archer again because they’re so fucking good. My first character was a mystic knight but I ended up not liking that at all.
Maybe a ranger, or I’ll just play a sorcerer walking around in circles with fulmination
Again, this is a game where stuff just kind of disappears after a while, missed opportunities and such. Madeleine is complicated and has a long series of quests you can get locked out of for doing the wrong thing, sometimes she's around, sometimes she's not. https://dragonsdogma.fandom.com/wiki/Madeleine
I ignored nearly all the escort quests. It's good to know that they are essentially fluff, generated/boring content that exists for every NPC in the game for no particular reason, and they are not recorded anywhere for the purposes of unlocking things or achievements (not that Switch has achievements).
There is a Mage augment that buffs enchantment duration, pretty much required for Mystic Knight.
You can also try to bring a pawn with the enchant as well, but you eventually want to be able to do at least one enchant yourself. Not only is it more utility to be able to override the mage's enchant when needed, MK weapon enchants give a much larger boost to Magick than the Mage/Sorc version.
I just love the tornado spells, especially if your companion is also a sorcerer for double tornadoes.
Meteor storm is also nice, but less usefull in most fights.
Start out as mage, race to the big city, become a sorcerer asap, then go forth to maximice your magic stats and kill enemies who did not even know you were there with megaspells cast from out of detection range.
That said, the assassin is also great for climbing things and stabbing them, and mystic knight has its charms as well.
Never did warm up to magic archer, dunno why.
All the classes are great though. I do wish they have anodyne to one other class though. It means you either need a dedicated mage or to sacrifice a bunch of weight to healing stuff.
PSN:Furlion
If you climb a cyclops are you technically riding a meat bicycle? :P
"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA
Dragon's Dogma predates all of Borderlands 2.
Cyclops are clearly meat unicycles, that's just common sense.
Magick Archer with MK's Resoration augment, Grand Susasion, and Greater Ward Arrow. GWA is secretly High Halidom and High Voidspell combined into one, since anything that makes you immune to debilitations also removes any already on you. (Better than the two combined, in fact, since if you can't get drenched, your lamp can't go out either) while Grand Susasion is probably the best way to restore white health damage without Anodyne since it proc's holy's heal effect so often. Restoration is for "healing" your pawns, namely reviving them with more health.
Alternatively, you can go Mystic Knight with some Immortal's pieces (I particularly like the look of the arms and sabatons with the Animistic robe and a matching shoulder-covering cloak) and Holy Grace, which can restore even black damage on a perfect block. This does mean bringing curatives for debilitations though.
Otherwise, you'll be replacing that Mage with Anodyne with a Sorc with Holy Affinity or Pact. Specifically those, because they also increase the chance for the Holy "status effect" that results in healing. Best for Strider and Assassin, though Fighter and Warriors will probably have to rely more on that Immortal's armor and not getting hit too often in a short span.
That might cut it on normal but in hard you need a dedicated healer or you are going to spend a lot if time in the menus. I didn't realize magic knights could heal with perfect blocks but that requires me to be in combat and land a perfect block. The immortal set is not really enough to make do either. Maybe outside of combat while running from one fight to the next but goblin size enemies can knock half my health off in one hit.
PSN:Furlion
Are you starting a fresh character on hard? Or are you further along? In either case if I'm in an area where normal enemies are taking half my health on a hit I'm not going to trust the mage pawn to land a heal in time regardless.
Mk's Holy aid heals on any block, it's just more with the potential to go beyond normal healing on a perfect one. Other possibility is to avoid damage altogether with Assassin and Masterful Kill. Specifically Masterful Kill, not Easy Kill, because Masterful can hold the counter stance indefinitely, and once triggered it's invuln frames until it does damage, which on large monsters will also put you behind them. Just make sure you also use a shield for ranged, spells and other AoE attacks.
That's a good point, and yeah I started on hard. I can drop enemies pretty fast but if anyone manages to get to me it is almost always over. I do have a lot of spare cash at the moment so I am tempted to just stuff my pawn full of healing items and swap them to a different class. I am actually playing a mage at the moment so I am doing the healing. With decent success although I completely spaced on Anodyne being placed instead of auto targeting. I am doing the gryphon hunt and lost about 15 minutes of progress thanks to getting one shot by a random bandit near bluemoon tower. Oh well.
PSN:Furlion
I'm trying to wrap my head around how this stuff works with Purifying Bitter Black stuff, I think I mostly get it, but I have a hopefully clarifying question.
Is each Category (i.e. Gear/Weapon/Armor/Novelty) treated as it's own track? Meaning if I would get the results: Saving Grace (Red), Stalwart Bow (Yellow), or Frigid Finger (Blue) with my one particular Bitterblack Weapon Lvl 1, that's it -- I can only get a potentially different weapon from that loot pool by purifying a subsequent, second Bitterblack Weapon Lvl 1?
I.E. it doesn't matter if I purify from another category (i.e. Novelties or Armors), or even if I purified a Bitterblack Weapon Lvl 2, beforehand that Bitterblack Weapon Lvl 1 is set in stone to be one of those three.
Do I understand it right?
Note that items usable by multiple class colors may be the result for two or even all three colors. This happens often with results yielding cloaks, shirts, leggings, and non-skill rings.
Novelties are the exception and don't vary with vocation colors.
Specific technical details within:
Except for Novelties, every step along each sequence is in fact a set of three items, one for each vocation color: red, yellow, and blue.
When purifying, your Arisen and Pawn's current vocation colors are treated as a pool of equally-weighted outcomes. The game chooses one randomly and gives you that color's item. Example:
Your Bitterblack Weapon Lv. 2 purification sequence is up to these as the next set:
Red - Twinpaler
Yellow - Dragon's Glaze
Blue - Melting Focus
Your Arisen is a Magick Knight, and your Pawn is a Strider: Your colors are red, blue, and yellow, so you could get any one of those items.
Your Arisen is a Warrior, and your Pawn is a Strider: Your colors are red and yellow, so you could get Twinpaler or Dragon's Glaze.
Your Arisen is a Fighter, and your Pawn is a Warrior: Your colors are both red. You will get Twinpaler.
PSN: theIceBurner, IceBurnerEU, IceBurner-JP | X-Link Kai: TheIceBurner
Dragon's Dogma: 192 Warrior Linty | 80 Strider Alicia | 32 Mage Terra
So for Novelties do you simply ignore switching Vocations to influence them and let come what may, or do you specifically emphasize going down one track? Does it matter?
Novelties it doesn't matter at all.
Gear may lure you into thinking that it only matters for vocation rings, but sometimes there might be a vocation ring as one possibility and two stat rings as the others (or visa versa) so you still need to check each color.
Each level of novelty has its own unchanging sequence of single items. Nothing you can do in the game will influence the purification result.
PSN: theIceBurner, IceBurnerEU, IceBurner-JP | X-Link Kai: TheIceBurner
Dragon's Dogma: 192 Warrior Linty | 80 Strider Alicia | 32 Mage Terra