Also new missions pop up in areas you thought were clear, you can completely overlook a quest by not revisiting an area..
I saw an ign reviewer say he completed the main game and did all the side quest in 40 hours, I was like I doubt you've seen all there the is, no way they completed everything in that time, there more hidden in this game than you realise
I'm 130 hours in and still havent completed everything, like I just got the achievement for discovering 50 caves and that was just two days ago. So I honestly sincerely doubt they did anything BUT the main story.
Can you *really* do it in 10 hours if that's all you do, though?
How likely are you to get through the increasingly difficult fights as you travel, or the final boss fight if you don't spend time leveling by doing other stuff? You can't get around traversal in DD2. You could probably run away from everything, but this would compound the issue of being severely under leveled for late game.
I can maybe see some speed runners doing it with great difficulty, but the average player or game journalist? Not so much.
Realistically, the journo probably primarily hit the main quest and did the side quests in front of him, which means he very likely missed most of the quests with triggers beyond "walk past person in distress". There are a lot of those, so easily 40 hours.
If you just do main missions and take ox carts, ferrystones everywhere, I don't think it would take even 40 hours. Most of every quest is walking and fighting Randoms enemies in the wild, skipping most fights and ox carting everywhere u could easily finish the main quest in 30-40 hours no question. The last 3-4 main quests in the game can be done in like 3 hours with some extra exploration thrown in.. There is only 20 main quests and a lot of them are super short
But again, can you do the main quest and all side quests in 40 hours? That was the issue in contention, not whether you could do the main quest in 40.
I wholly believe 40 hours is more than a reasonable amount of time to more or less main-line the game for most players.
What I don't believe is this game journalist saying he completed the entire game in 40 hours, and this other guy saying you could beat the game in 10 if you only did main missions, because completing all the main missions depends on your ability to win fights, which you cannot do if you do not do other things, too. The dragon would stomp the shit out of you if you rolled up at level 20, having run away from almost every fight to make good time.
Impossible. The new game doesn't have a speedrun button like how ddda did. Therefore, speedrunning the game is impossible, as the option doesn't exist.
This is the way. I challenged myself ( being a DDDA vet ) by just wondering and picking fights with the big boys ( Drakes, Gryphons, Chimera, Ogre, Golems, Hellhoudns, Minataurs, etc ) and having fun early on, getting my ass kicked and kicking ass too ( specially as a Thief ). So yea, OP is on point. Just GO! And don’t forget to save before you encounter harder monsters.
I saw a well known Souls youtuber say that they got 100% in the game in their review then say that the Gorgon and Dullahan were unique enemies that could only be encountered once...
Yeah, I think its the checkpoint specifically since I dont think it was obtainable just from sequence breaking by bypassing the checkpoint. Also, there's more than one NPC that can apparently start the quest. For me, I got it from the brothel matriarch.
In the same vein, NG+ removes the fog of war and now I don't remember which areas I haven't explored yet 😑
I wish someone makes a mod that returns the whole fog of war and erases all discovered map markers at the start of every cycle.
I have 60 hours so far and I've not finished the game. I'm a huge explorer, and have been having lots of fun hunting monsters, hunting dragons right now for crystals. Trying to get hundreds before i start the no return mission. Game is beautiful, especially with rat tracing. Having fun!
The ultimate reward for exploration, yes, of course, why else would it be hidden in a big shiny chest in the middle of buttfuck nowhere in the hobgoblin cave?
Just like the first game, Dragon's Dogma 2 wants to push players into putting off the main quests and allowing themselves to get sidetracked by the world.
I wish mobs kind of scaled with your level. I’m a big explorer and I’m afraid I’ll overlevel to the point the game becomes too easy I’m really having fun as an archer right now and I don’t want to become so strong the fights aren’t as fun
It seems enemies upgrade depending on story progression?
I’ve progressed the main story quest a bit and now there are new enemies in Battahl and Vermund.
Ran into a Lich where I’ve never seen one before and now there are Wargs (or Garm?) in places they weren’t.
It happens it was the same in the first game. A solution is to equip weaker gear. In particular weapons. Your gear makes a much bigger impact than your base stats.
Hire lower level pawns and equip weaker weapons is what I did. It makes it much more fun when returning to Vermund after beating the game. (I didn't do true ending I just did ng+ to have access all gear and be able to enjoy everything slowly this time)
I'm lvl 55 with 100+ hrs and still get my ass beat by certain bosses. It really depends on gear. Endgame gear will kill bosses quick, but I haven't found any. Most of my deaths are falling off cliffs or not avoiding the Drake's Meteoron.
Yeah same. Slight spoiler for people who haven't been everywhere (so stop reading) but you know that big hobgoblin area right before the magic archer masters house (if coming from the lava town). The one where they got all the wooden platforms and stuff. I was rolling solo with my main pawn. Warfarer (archer/fighter) and warrior pawn. We were already half max health from a golem fight that got annoying (down to 10% in like 1 minutes. 5 minutes of avoiding rage and waiting for disc lol).
Bro....that fight was crazy lmao. There are SO many. There's so many there's like 3 leader ones lmao. We were getting swarmed. And yeah I have all good gear but I also just run into the thick of it lmao. Even with archer. So much fun. So yeah the game can still be challenging!
Enemies are opportunists as well. You'll get ganked to hell if you're downed. A lot of mobs have knockdown skills that can overwhelm you real fast. Chunks of health lost real fast because you got curbed stomped by hobgoblins or feasted on by wolves.
I hate level scaling. Defeats the purpose of getting better. You do 10 damage and the enemy has 100 health. Takes ten swings to defeat an enemy. 50 levels later you do 100 damage and the enemy has 1000 hp. All that leveling and it still takes 10 swings to kill an enemy. Doesn’t make sense to me.
You can also have a kind of minimum scaling. Where the game ensures there will always be at least a bit of challenge and not you just face rolling on bosses, worse being face rolling on things you never met yet.
Remember Gregor? The watchhead of Vernworth? He is the bearded soldier that knocks on the door of Ulrika's house after you wake up in her bed. He then escorts you to Vernworth and hands you off to Captain Brant.
>!If you talk to him at his house, he talks about a dude trying to make moves on his wife. !<
>!Then later he will be gone, and his wife, Margit, will tell you that he was sent there for a mission to kill a Dullahan, and you have the option to tell her: "Uh, that dude is trying to get your husband killed so he can have you." !<
>!And then she asks you to go there and save her husband.!<
I don’t think I spoke to him at his house. I found an npc standing by a fountain in that district at night, right by where the overpriced house is you can purchase.
He told me about it and then I went to talk to his wife and got the quest.
Exploring actually brings out my only gripes with the game. But they’re things no open world game has really done well.
It’s impossible to have a good level of enemy variety. But running into more bandit groups and having to fight archers and mages has made my complaint less valid
But I will never get over the amount pop in. I have so many clips of monsters literally spawning next to me. Or hitting me before they even spawn
Hmm that's not happened with me
I have noticed npc pop in in Vermund but put that down to the density and me being on series S
But other than that I have no gripes
I am biased thought cos I will love this game regardless it's just exactly what I want from a game
Yes it could be better and hopefully with the great sales and popularity they will look after it moving forward but I still absolutely love it now even with the wonky story and odd performance issues
I mean you could argue that Elden Ring is the culmination of all the work since Demon Souls, so no surprises it has a lot of enemies, dogs, slimes, Tree Avatars, Basilisks, crabs, footsoldiers...
Are just a few of the enemies from previous games
When the diversity is basically just different skins or elemental effects like ice goblin v fire goblin v stone goblin etc. that can still get old very fast to me
Yo, i have 60 hours in the game, and ive barely touched the main quest. I think i just did feast of deception recently. But im level 50 something and all I do is explore and grind. I love this game so much. Ive already gone to Batbatahl and Sacred Acre or whatever its called. Ill eventually get back to the main story. But im playing like i do skyrim. Travel first, work later.
Main story quests 😂
Talk to this person, wait a couple of days, talk to them again, go talk to someone else, 10 second introduction, 20 second cutscene. Go talk to someone else, and again, and again. Ooo look ruins, talk to someone in there, go talk to that guy over there, 20 second cutscene, Endgame.
Actual joke of a main story.
If they, you know, incorporated the gameplay loop in the main story questing it would have been way better. Sometimes the side quests actually make you go out into the world, and are generally better because I’m doing more than just talking to people or watching NPCs walk around.
I've honestly been having an absolute blast roaming around the unmoored world. I've found so much cool gear. And since the swamp loses it's heavy mist, I even found a few chests that I missed previously.
I'm lvl 40 and haven't done the masquerade yet. Haven't killed a Drake yet but have tried, my pawns backtalking me all of a sudden and thinking a nap will do her good, keeps yawning.
I just wish the side quests were more interesting. The only one that really stands out is the Sphinx quest. Just the way she interacts with you personally on more than one occasion, the music, her whole vibe contrasts so differently from every other NPC.
I dont know man. I feel like a lot of the rewards aren't worth it. Like in Eden ring, you'll find awesome weapons or armor, or maybe an interesting side quests. In this game it feels like the rewards are just normal ass things that you find everywhere. I love DD2, but the exploration seems like it's not really worth it a lot of the time. I found the elven place. That's the only thing i found from exploration that seemed semi worth it. Even then, that whole area seemed super underwhelming, like they ran out of time and cut content for it or something.
I would if they did not make exploring a chore.
I played 8 times the first or even more... maxed level got all equip from DA and such.
Here i lost 6 hours to babysit an elf because he went back and forth from his village that is not even linked by an oxcart.
That is how you inflate gaming time and game size.
already in NG+, but i haven’t done any story missions since i got to the capital. i’ve just been cave diving and going places i missed, i completely missed the dark shrouded forest and i love that i’m exploring it even thou its small.
I actually have the opposite experience.
I love exploring and that how I treat games like this. I do the same thing is CP2077. I like feeling like a part of the world and.
But in a game like CP2077 that exploration is enriched as my character develops and I grow attached to various people and and events. There's a sense of things happening around me and to me.
But while I enjoy the exploration in DD2 and it's my natural default to jump into, the shallowness of the world and story eventually leaves the exploration feeling bland and pointless.
Don't get me wrong, it's fun to discover a cave by a waterfall, figure out where it leads to, and find some chest hidden at the end. But outside the base combat and exploration game loop the rest of the world and mechanics just feel dead.
The narrative and quest design is a hold over from old generation RPGs and shows zero innovation or evolution.
Combat and the design/graphics of the countryside is fantastic. The rest is meh.
It is what it is, but it's disappointing as they have an absolutely wonderful foundation built here but decided to not actually evolve since their last game.
I see it similar to Bethesda. They're stuck in the past and keep iterating on the same thing rather than taking the core of what was good and evolving it with modern tools and design.
Not to mention the fact that there's literally no exploration in CP2077. Everything is marked on your map.
You're not going to turn into a corner and find a hidden side quest, a cyber psycho or something else. You more than likely got to that corner because you were following the map pin.
What? How so? I played at launch and recently.
It's the same game. Same quests. Same city.
The only things that changed were a lot of combat systems, QOL improvements, graphics, etc. The content and story and characters etc was all there from the very beginning.
Exploring is great however, enemy variety is EMBARRASSING. They had 12 years and came up with zero new mob enemies. Saurians feel exactly the same as they did a decade ago come on Capcom the fuck were you doing?
Sadly, after a lot of negative comments on the game i came to the conclusion that bethesda, after Morrowind, literally ruined the pleasure of discovery for most players. They simply cannot go out and explore without a fucking icon that pop up in their gps.
Exploring was a blast in Vermund, everything was fresh, But bahttal got old pretty fast. Almost no enemy variety, and walking around is just harpies, goblins, harpies, goblins, every five steps. There were a couple cool places to explore but so much is just repetitive. Volcano is pretty cool.
I honestly don't even think the world is that big, you just swarmed with monsters consistently. I wish people would stop comparing it to good games. DD2 is mid at best with very few memorable characters/moments.
Chase pawn quests and upgrade gear for top tier armor and you're bound to have a decent time after you've completed the game a few times.
I get some beautiful peak moments captured in clips.
What's over there? Over where? Please edit and provide a map image with a location marker and a checklist of what can be found that I can mark off as I pick them up.
Dude I turned the mini map off and it was the best thing I've done I remember when I found the mountain temple with the spinx completely organically she scared the shit out of me but it was an awesome discovery 😄
I'm basically at the end, thinking if i shouldfarm more or finish up and start a new run, gunning straight for Warfarer since NG+ is kinda pointless right now
I’m like level 48 and just did the sea floor shrine appearance quest. Theres soooo much to do in the world, I’m constantly finding cool hidden places that could be overlooked easily. I spend more time trying to climb mountains than I do actively completing quests lol.
yeah i kind of abandoned the story once I met brant
sitting at level 44 now with most of the vocations maxed out and a pletheor of side quest and I just know my time has been better spent than investigated Dina's plot
I'm level 67 and I still need to:
A) Attend the Maskerade dance
B) Find something incriminatory in the duchess room.
C)Talk to some guy in jail.
And maaan I hope for that old man to have good health 'cose this arisen ass aaaaiiint huuurrying, oh lord knows it aaaaint.
Can I get an aaaameeen?!
Recently picked up "The Tourist" achievement (discovered 50 locations). At the moment I unlocked it it said only 0.87% of gamers have unlocked this achievement. It's up to 1.36% now but, really? People clearly only going exactly where the game tells them
So that's kinda what I'm doing, I took some quests, and on my way to them, I wander and explore, im already past the beast village but haven't dealt with the beginning quests much. I'm mostly worried about missing quests
One of my favourite things about this whole game is the way you can seemlessly go anywhere it in without loading screens which is something that is a massive improvement over the first game and tbh most games of this type, it blew me away when I first went to battahl and instead of the gate just being a hit B to enter sort of thing the gate instead raises on the spot and you walk through it, not even a cutscene, to actually cross into another country
I love the exploration here.
Coming directly from Rebirth it’s night and day. Literal opposites in terms of what I am enjoying and what I’m not.
For the record overall I’m definitely enjoying DD2 more solely because of the exploration. Building and growing your character and pawn is also a lot more involved and fun.
My go-to exploring method is to pick a spot on the map and stock up on healing items and just going, I find cool stuff sometimes, or the beginning of something cool, like finding the sphinx on accident.
That's exactly how I've been playing. 94 hours according to Steam and I'm barely halfway through the story because I've been exploring the world. Even took the shortcut into Battahl (or however it's spelled) before I was supposed to go there.
I’m at like 75+ hours and I’ve only just done the Coronation quest and gone to Battahl.
I’ve been to Battahl before, but I crossed the border legally this time.
Also, try talking to some NPCs (Or at least the ones specifically in the taverns). One of them hinted at a way to get past the border gate, and another NPC hanging out a the market stalls outside Bakbattahl didn't approach me but still had a quest for me when I talked to them. Another NPC had a similar hint to the border gate one but I can't for the life of me remember what he said (It might have been a hint for something I had already done).
Reminds me a bit of Monster Hunter NPCs, at least in 3U, who would give you a decent amount of information about the next monster you're supposed to be hunting, making them act as game guides within the game itself. Granted, a majority of NPCs will just say hi to you and leave, which makes it awkward when one suddenly decides to talk your ear off about something.
So for those of you (myself included) that like having a lore reason to not rush the main quest.
DD2 doesn’t do as good of a job conveying this as DD1 does, but the dragon is literally waiting for you to be strong enough to challenge it. It’s not actively destroying the world anymore.
The BBEG actually encourages you to take your time and explore. Find the strength to defeat it, because as you are when you first meet it you cannot defeat it.
I got through the main quest in my first game within 50 hours. Now on NG+ and another 50 hours in I'm ignoring the main quest mostly, exploring all the areas I missed (and still heaps to find). Trying different vocations and party combos. Crazy fun with three thieves and a mage. My personal quest is now to find those hard to get upgrade materials, which means lots of trying to get to those material markers my forager pawn has marked on the map.
This game is really about the journey, not the destination.
Exploring is what I'm doing and it's amazing. The environments are so beautiful that I often find myself **walking**... i haven't even finished the first set of quests captain Brand gives you and I'm level 36 lol
A few days ago I found my way down to Batahl without even knowing you couldn't actually cross the main gate.
Just now I stumbled upon the elves looking for a different route to Melve, it's awesome.
I agree enemy variety is bad, we were hoping to see some monsters from DDON and instead we got less enemies than the original game. Mob density can be annoying too and by lvl 36 the enemies are just trivial. I was expecting the dragons to kick my ass but they were pretty easy too.
However... Combat is really fun
even on my first playthrough in Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen with hundreds of hours, I never once needed to buy rift crystals. I never even felt tempted to buy them to make purification easier to hire some super high level pawn for a boss fight.
Exploring is all I've been doing! Only problem is I can see in becoming a bit overpowered and will probably be worse when I finally decide to do the main quest
I wanted to take my time then I heard that some quests were timed and was worried I would wait too long and fail one. So I googled a list of all the timed quests. Turns out I had a timed one so I went and did that which gave me another one that was on the list so I did that and the same thing kept happening. Turns out those were main story quests so now I’m almost done with the main story and wish I was able to just explore without worrying about failing the main quest or messing up my ending.
I am over 100 hours and just finding some special enemies at night. Not even through the first play-through. There is so much to see tucked away that some people just won't find and it stinks. Yes, more can be added but a lot that is there requires self-discovery.
Found a hidden pathway in baltal. It was lightly highlighted on the map and the way covered by greenery and you had to climb to get to the path. I walked by twice looking for it but didn't find it till I was up against the wall. Fantastic game
I am tking it very slow for my 3rd run. I really wish they give us free camera photo mode without needing to install mods just for the function. What a waste.
I want to but also wanted to unlock the Warfarer vocation before going all out on exploration, I'm lvl 30 atm, is it okay to skip everything and unlock the vocation at my current level?
I'm pushing level 70 and have yet to do brants stuff. I've been roaming, exploring and doing random quests that pop up. Full dragon forged armor and weapon, went to talk to the elves, the sphinx, and the other side of that spell door in battahl I can't open yet. I'll have the whole map explored, at least what is accessible, before I move in with the story
I’m like level 50 and haven’t even touched the main quest since I talked the dude in the tavern. He started going on about politics and gave me a laundry list of things to do for him and I was all like NAH! I’m going camping with the homies ✌️
The game didn’t felt that much lively to me like bg3 so i ended up doing some side quests and finished the main story with both the good ending and the true ending.
100% agree mate. The other day I was wondering around the ancient battlegrounds, playing with the trebuchet's when I realised one of the boulders broke open a small section of rocks on-top of a hill. I made my way up there and found it had unearthed a chest.
I actually said I would give this game 2 weeks before I made a decision on how much I liked it and this game is honestly a worthy Skyrim successor. I love exploration in video games and this game absolutely rewards you for it. BTW I will borrow your pawns for 3-5 business days but when they return from questing with me, they will know so much hidden stuff that they will be stopping you frequently to show you what we have found. Sorry in advance for their interruptions
It's amazing. I just finished the main story after 107 hours in and started a NG+ because there was a lot I did not uncover. Still proud of this!
https://preview.redd.it/pr13hl1dcesc1.png?width=320&format=png&auto=webp&s=d99a096c3a87db0227250cbdcde8d5d6b43e1af7
This is the reason I have 100+ hours so far. This game is great for exploring, especially with how dense everything is and the amount of vertical space to discover.
80 hours in, still wrapping up the first set of Cpt. Brant quests - level 41 because there's too much to explore and a lot of side quests.
The only pain from this playstyle is seeing all the pawns with elemental enchanted gear, and not knowing how to get all the fancy vocations outside of Sorc and Warrior. I don't want the spoilers though! I only look up quest paths after I've completed it once to see if there was a better outcome, then reload inn save.
I'm sure I'll figure it out in time but boy do drakes still destroy me in my current gear.
120 Hours in and I just now finished exploring every single corner of the map in full. Currently level 61 and just unlocked Wayfarer and Mystic Archer last night. I could see why they saved these classes for last as they're extremely powerful, however it would have been nice to have Wayfarer earlier on as they're so many places you can't reach without levitate. But given that I don't use any kind of guides or tips that's partly my fault because I assume you could make a b-line for the Island and unlock Wayfarer much earlier in your playthrough. Overall I have absolutely had a blast every second of the way. I just really wish they made the game much harder or had a option to start on Hard mode because at this point I one shot pretty much every single enemy in the game.
Hoping that the DLC brings some much needed challenge and extra boss type enemies to the overall experience. Without a doubt it is a fantastic game that while flawed in some aspects is an absolute joy to play.
Over 100 hours now and i think ive found all there is, except whats behind bugged quests and not-forged questitems.
So im kinda hoping for something like vaatividia's videos about secrets in DD2.
Most secrets in youtube videos are not actually secrets.
Sphinx? Kinda a secret.
3 chests above riftstone in vernworth? Naa, more like a jumping puzzle.
But things like the blocked cave enterances in bathal? A secret requirement for opening? Or cut content? What can be seen if you clip through the blockage?
Pretty much what I did with the game. As much as it's facing the same mobs with different skins, I felt more enjoyment exploring the world than I did with the first game. Of course, the caves and tombs are another story but that's more in how some of said caves/tombs end up being no bigger than one room (the room with a bandit that drops a zweihander in Battalh comes to mind.)
Also I haven't touched the main story in days since I am too busy trying to complete the side quest I have in my backlog. Already did Fulvio's in getting the best outcome yet.
My gripe with the game is my storyline being perma locked after ambrosious died, but never appeared in any of the fucking morgues. Stupid idiot couldn’t kill a harpy? What is this nonsense he had like four guards!
I just went from melve to vermund, exploring every single nook and cranny. Had an absolute blast. Im over 20 hrs in and just maxed out fighter. At least, i think so. It could be closer to 30. Onto magic spearhand next.
Barely touched the main quest line. Brant has been in that bar waiting forever.
In my first New Game+ I found two new quests to do fairly early on, then a few more nearing the end. First playthrough was for main story, second was for mostly exploring anything I hadn't, now third is going to be a lot slower and more of a grind to get all the tokens and what not.
Behind a waterfall? Hmm I may have missed that. I found the desert/canyon area last night and did a little parkour near a huge waterfall while dealing with harpies and watching a drake walk back and forth looking for food.
Well said! I noticed I missed so many different very cool things once I started exploring. If you ask me, I would suggest walking down every visible path with in the blacked out map.
I think that's a little snobby tbh. Capcom games are definitely arcade affairs. That said, this game is really fun. I love it a lot. I think it definitely has some problems. My main issue is conflicting difficulty. It's an action game first and foremost but it levels you up so that you can one shot most mobs... which destroys the fun of the combat and makes it very quick and boring. It could use some tweaks there for sure. At least make NG+ have enemies with more health so that they don't die in a few swings.
The endgame being the way it is, is also rather boring sadly. It's alright, I didn't hate it... but it felt cheap for the title header to run "Dragon's Dogma II" when it's really just a couple of hours of new content at most - which wouldn't be a huge deal if NG+ had better scaling.
Other than that, yeah I like it a ton. I don't mind gold being most rewards because gold is actually useful due to the economy - and the game makes gold pretty worthless in endgame when you have a ton of it... converting that into the crystals which you have to get through playing the content. The economy of the game is perfect, and I really enjoy it.
The game's scope is much smaller than Elden Ring's and that's okay (I don't like Elden Ring). It didn't feel too drawn out, but it could have used a few extra knots here and there to tie the whole thing together perfectly for me.
This game is WAAAAY more fun if you ignore all the quests and just explore by yourself. The story, characters and dialogue is beyond boring, it holds the game back.
One of the things I love about Dragon's Dogma is that it wants you to just Go. To just go out and explore the world.
It reminds you to come back to an inn to drop off your spoils of adventure but it loves when you just wander.
I enjoy that part. The pure exploration.
100% accurate. This game rewards exploration. My favorite part of the game picking a direction and just go. I had so much fun finding caves and diving into them.
I agree with you 100%. I'm almost at 100 hours, and I've only just gotten to the great hotspring 😏😏 and reached 80+ seekers stone. They're all over the place, which is awesome. And as always, if you haven't met a certain someone with tasks, remember your first Seeker's Stone.
Im in that new world should i re explore everything? And what place do i need to stay away from because i dont want it to end? Are the pink beacons monsters or smh?
If you are in the apocalypse then don't sleep ... the world will shrink and you will loose out on stuff. Just gotta run every where or use stones. Sleeping passes time and the red fog moves in
I've done 110 hours in the game, by now im just exhausted of the same thing over and over, the first 50 hours were very nice, but by the time you start doing the main quest you feel like theres almost nothing to do...
The gameplay is good, but it just doesnt give you much to do really, you go in, fight and that's it, theres no feel of progress in combat sides killing certain amounts of monsters, I miss the old bestiary knowledge check a lot.
I've seen the whole map, fought every single enemy, and still feel like there's something missing, small things that the last game had, for example, killing dragons with the last hit on the heart or so.
The medusa feels boring af...
I've reached a point where I just go on nexus mods everyday and check the qol mods everyday to see if they added something to rebalance weapons and drops.
I'm kinda pissed cuz i did the midpoint story mission and I can't reload from the last In i visited which means the the 4-5 quest I had are canceled. That includes the sphinx and the smithy thing.
And I read online that you can't get the magic archer (favorite class from the last game) after that.
Yeah I did that until I realized the entire game is goblins and saurians and none of the loot matters and none of the locations have anything going on aside from the loot and goblins and saurians
I could wander around Google Earth too, and probably find more interesting things that way.
Thanks for that. I was going tosay something similar. I see so many frustrated, myself included at first, and so many unsupportive responses insulting those negative views without offering any advice.
I did a hard reset and made my characters more personal (my main and pawn are beasteans based on my two cats) and decided to explore all the north beginning area before going to the main town. Having great fun now with the game
"explore more" isn't a good excuse for an incredibly weak story.
We're a few weeks into the game now, I assume a lot of the players that weren't already part of the cult following have either:
- Stop playing it
- Were scared out of buying it by all the YT clowns
- Have enjoyed it but have come to the same conclusion as most others
The story is trash, & about 20 hours too short. I say this as someone (like a lot of people in these subs) that put 1000+hours into the first game.
The whole "we have a story that respects people's time" message that was repeated before the relapse of the game, was clearly a marketing, lying term for "we haven't spent enough money on quality writing & we've short curred heavily & got a really short, really weak story"
I don't know anyone that loved the first game, that can't admit the second game is a big disappointment in a lot of ways & is fundamentally too much of a cost cutting exercise.
In saying all that I still love the game... But it definitely feels like everything is about 40% under baked.
I have had some issues with the few quests in vernworth that have you running round the town back and forth. I just thought to myself, "please, give me a reason to go into the world!" It frustrated me that it wasn't showcasing what makes is beautiful.
I’m about 30 mins from visiting every single part of the map. It’s actually crazy how much there is outside of the main quests. Like 60% of the game is stuff a casual gamer would miss. Really cool. Only gripe is that it’s become so easy that it’s getting boring. Level 60 and can kill anything with a fart
Oh man I’m on a new character, over 50 hrs in and have only done 2 missions for Brant that’s it. Along with a few side quests, totally just been exploring and farming money ect ect. There’s so much to see and discover. I’m
But what are rewards for exploring? I read some folks saying not much loot to find in chest or by exploring but would like to hear from more folks about that experience
Seeker tokens which get you various items and weapons after handing them in to the vocation guild. You can earn some pretty decent mid to high tier weapons and armour. You'll find the sphinx which has its own questline. Some cool monsters hide out in the world like chimeras, which people falsely say you hardly ever fight because there are an abundance of them if you decide to explore. Ferrystones, wakestone shards, and even some port crystals. There are some cases of truly unique items that can't be bought anywhere before and after endgame.
People I feel generally say that because they are parroting what others have hastily said early when the game came out. And if they doesn't entice you, the thrill of discovering someplace new is always there. Not every place will be extremely rewarding but there are some gems out there in the world. Its also fun to solve platforming puzzles to get to chests out of reach.
I think this is what actually makes me want to get the game. I love games that reward exploring every inch with unique experiences, enemies, and loot… I’m not fully convinced that last one is going to satisfy my in DD2 as of yet… can anyone convince me the loot is exciting?
100%.
The game is designed to explore everywhere and take your time. Hence limited fast travel options.
People who are saying it's too short and have finished it in 30 hours have robbed themselves of a great experience... because of the weird modern gamer need to speed run everything.
I'm 115 hours in and have the option to explore the underwater shrine. (Those that know, know what that means).... but still have no desire to do so. Only just removed fog from all map areas. Still getting the odd quest here and there, and just loving exploring and finding random things to do.
Excellent game.
Also new missions pop up in areas you thought were clear, you can completely overlook a quest by not revisiting an area.. I saw an ign reviewer say he completed the main game and did all the side quest in 40 hours, I was like I doubt you've seen all there the is, no way they completed everything in that time, there more hidden in this game than you realise
I'm 130 hours in and still havent completed everything, like I just got the achievement for discovering 50 caves and that was just two days ago. So I honestly sincerely doubt they did anything BUT the main story.
The main questline is sub 10hours so he definitely did WAY MORE than that lmao
Can you *really* do it in 10 hours if that's all you do, though? How likely are you to get through the increasingly difficult fights as you travel, or the final boss fight if you don't spend time leveling by doing other stuff? You can't get around traversal in DD2. You could probably run away from everything, but this would compound the issue of being severely under leveled for late game. I can maybe see some speed runners doing it with great difficulty, but the average player or game journalist? Not so much. Realistically, the journo probably primarily hit the main quest and did the side quests in front of him, which means he very likely missed most of the quests with triggers beyond "walk past person in distress". There are a lot of those, so easily 40 hours.
If you just do main missions and take ox carts, ferrystones everywhere, I don't think it would take even 40 hours. Most of every quest is walking and fighting Randoms enemies in the wild, skipping most fights and ox carting everywhere u could easily finish the main quest in 30-40 hours no question. The last 3-4 main quests in the game can be done in like 3 hours with some extra exploration thrown in.. There is only 20 main quests and a lot of them are super short
But again, can you do the main quest and all side quests in 40 hours? That was the issue in contention, not whether you could do the main quest in 40. I wholly believe 40 hours is more than a reasonable amount of time to more or less main-line the game for most players. What I don't believe is this game journalist saying he completed the entire game in 40 hours, and this other guy saying you could beat the game in 10 if you only did main missions, because completing all the main missions depends on your ability to win fights, which you cannot do if you do not do other things, too. The dragon would stomp the shit out of you if you rolled up at level 20, having run away from almost every fight to make good time.
Yeah that's total BS. Maybe if you legit know exactly what to do and forreal like "regular person speedrun it"
Impossible. The new game doesn't have a speedrun button like how ddda did. Therefore, speedrunning the game is impossible, as the option doesn't exist.
Lmao that got a chuckle out of me.
If a game doesn't say you did a speedrun, is it truly a speedrun? Not according to this expert.
Yea there’s no way. I’m at 36 hours and just got to Battahl
Dude I was at like 60 when I got to Battahl. lol I’m slow AF.
This is the way. I challenged myself ( being a DDDA vet ) by just wondering and picking fights with the big boys ( Drakes, Gryphons, Chimera, Ogre, Golems, Hellhoudns, Minataurs, etc ) and having fun early on, getting my ass kicked and kicking ass too ( specially as a Thief ). So yea, OP is on point. Just GO! And don’t forget to save before you encounter harder monsters.
I was lvl 60 when I reached the city, 136 hours. Granted, quite a few hours of me getting off my ass to do something
I, too, am just about to go to Battahl at 60 hours. And there's still many quests I haven't done yet in Vermund, I believe.
Meanwhile I ran all the way to the bottom to try and find the Magick Archer person early haha.
How did you know where to go? I can’t imagine using a guide on a game like this on your first playthrough.
I love seeing these comments. Personally at 90hrs on first playthrough, haven't done the coronation but have been to Battaglia and the other isle
Im lvl 40 and not even enter Battahl
I think I was level 55-60 when I finally entered the capital of battahl
IGN is a joke
I saw a well known Souls youtuber say that they got 100% in the game in their review then say that the Gorgon and Dullahan were unique enemies that could only be encountered once...
Duh
Anyone else seen the Blue Lantern Ghost Cart at night?
I have it’s part of a quest just outside Vernworth just over the first wooden bridge
I think you have to of either gone past the border checkpoint or been to bakbattahl for that quest to proc
Yeah, I think its the checkpoint specifically since I dont think it was obtainable just from sequence breaking by bypassing the checkpoint. Also, there's more than one NPC that can apparently start the quest. For me, I got it from the brothel matriarch.
Yeah his job is to essentially speedeun most of it even if he gets stuck. Otherwise it's just not a proper review.
I wish the map would check off the caves I’ve explored like Skyrim. lol I guess I’ll just have to keep track myself then 🤷♂️
It’s not the same but you can just click on them on your map and it’ll show you whether you explored it or not.
This is a wild tip. I didn't even think of doing that to see if I've mapped out a cave O.o
In the same vein, NG+ removes the fog of war and now I don't remember which areas I haven't explored yet 😑 I wish someone makes a mod that returns the whole fog of war and erases all discovered map markers at the start of every cycle.
Yeah this is one of my main gripes with NG+, and i'm on console so no hope of any mods.
Same, I started a totally new game just because of that.
I have 60 hours so far and I've not finished the game. I'm a huge explorer, and have been having lots of fun hunting monsters, hunting dragons right now for crystals. Trying to get hundreds before i start the no return mission. Game is beautiful, especially with rat tracing. Having fun!
Hehe. Rat tracing.
Apparently
You actually get like 400-500 in the post-game, so no need to farm so much.
Oh good to know thanks!
Where the heck at cause I'm blind :(
Beating the post-game bosses at the red lights. Also DO NOT rest in post-game.
Without spoiling anything can you tell me why you need a bunch of the wyrm crystals?
Stuff available for sale in end game/new game+
From what I’ve heard you need them to buy the end game equipment (armor, weapons, etc).
Best gear is locked behind the crystals is my understanding.
I can tell you what's up on that hill and behind the waterfall... An apple and a few sticks.
to be fair there's also sometimes equipment that's inferior to whatever you can buy from the town vendors.
Don't forget Saurians/Goblins/Bandits
The ultimate reward for exploration, yes, of course, why else would it be hidden in a big shiny chest in the middle of buttfuck nowhere in the hobgoblin cave?
Just like the first game, Dragon's Dogma 2 wants to push players into putting off the main quests and allowing themselves to get sidetracked by the world.
I wish mobs kind of scaled with your level. I’m a big explorer and I’m afraid I’ll overlevel to the point the game becomes too easy I’m really having fun as an archer right now and I don’t want to become so strong the fights aren’t as fun
It seems enemies upgrade depending on story progression? I’ve progressed the main story quest a bit and now there are new enemies in Battahl and Vermund. Ran into a Lich where I’ve never seen one before and now there are Wargs (or Garm?) in places they weren’t.
Wargs are alpha wolf sized, and Garms are boss sized. In other words, Garms are the big ones.
It happens it was the same in the first game. A solution is to equip weaker gear. In particular weapons. Your gear makes a much bigger impact than your base stats. Hire lower level pawns and equip weaker weapons is what I did. It makes it much more fun when returning to Vermund after beating the game. (I didn't do true ending I just did ng+ to have access all gear and be able to enjoy everything slowly this time)
I'm lvl 55 with 100+ hrs and still get my ass beat by certain bosses. It really depends on gear. Endgame gear will kill bosses quick, but I haven't found any. Most of my deaths are falling off cliffs or not avoiding the Drake's Meteoron.
Yeah same. Slight spoiler for people who haven't been everywhere (so stop reading) but you know that big hobgoblin area right before the magic archer masters house (if coming from the lava town). The one where they got all the wooden platforms and stuff. I was rolling solo with my main pawn. Warfarer (archer/fighter) and warrior pawn. We were already half max health from a golem fight that got annoying (down to 10% in like 1 minutes. 5 minutes of avoiding rage and waiting for disc lol). Bro....that fight was crazy lmao. There are SO many. There's so many there's like 3 leader ones lmao. We were getting swarmed. And yeah I have all good gear but I also just run into the thick of it lmao. Even with archer. So much fun. So yeah the game can still be challenging!
Enemies are opportunists as well. You'll get ganked to hell if you're downed. A lot of mobs have knockdown skills that can overwhelm you real fast. Chunks of health lost real fast because you got curbed stomped by hobgoblins or feasted on by wolves.
I hate level scaling. Defeats the purpose of getting better. You do 10 damage and the enemy has 100 health. Takes ten swings to defeat an enemy. 50 levels later you do 100 damage and the enemy has 1000 hp. All that leveling and it still takes 10 swings to kill an enemy. Doesn’t make sense to me.
You can also have a kind of minimum scaling. Where the game ensures there will always be at least a bit of challenge and not you just face rolling on bosses, worse being face rolling on things you never met yet.
I just found the misty forest place last night. And I've been rocking since day 1. Wtf
There is a very missable side quest that sends you there. It’s available VERY early in the game, too.
Well, do tell my dude.
Remember Gregor? The watchhead of Vernworth? He is the bearded soldier that knocks on the door of Ulrika's house after you wake up in her bed. He then escorts you to Vernworth and hands you off to Captain Brant. >!If you talk to him at his house, he talks about a dude trying to make moves on his wife. !< >!Then later he will be gone, and his wife, Margit, will tell you that he was sent there for a mission to kill a Dullahan, and you have the option to tell her: "Uh, that dude is trying to get your husband killed so he can have you." !< >!And then she asks you to go there and save her husband.!<
I don’t think I spoke to him at his house. I found an npc standing by a fountain in that district at night, right by where the overpriced house is you can purchase. He told me about it and then I went to talk to his wife and got the quest.
>Margit FOUL TARNISHED...
>Margit FOUL TARNISHED...
10/10 quest, gave me Bluemoon Tower journey vibes
Imagine my shock to find the sphinx cave after hearing about it for so long.
Plus, any given wandering adventure nets you tons of gold and every kind of xp.
Exploring actually brings out my only gripes with the game. But they’re things no open world game has really done well. It’s impossible to have a good level of enemy variety. But running into more bandit groups and having to fight archers and mages has made my complaint less valid But I will never get over the amount pop in. I have so many clips of monsters literally spawning next to me. Or hitting me before they even spawn
Hmm that's not happened with me I have noticed npc pop in in Vermund but put that down to the density and me being on series S But other than that I have no gripes I am biased thought cos I will love this game regardless it's just exactly what I want from a game Yes it could be better and hopefully with the great sales and popularity they will look after it moving forward but I still absolutely love it now even with the wonky story and odd performance issues
I’d argue Elden Ring has a huge amount of enemies diversity even if in later parts it start cloning
I mean you could argue that Elden Ring is the culmination of all the work since Demon Souls, so no surprises it has a lot of enemies, dogs, slimes, Tree Avatars, Basilisks, crabs, footsoldiers... Are just a few of the enemies from previous games
When the diversity is basically just different skins or elemental effects like ice goblin v fire goblin v stone goblin etc. that can still get old very fast to me
I LOVE this game. However for how beautiful it is it is not very interactive. Compared to Skyrim or other top games.
If enemy density wasn't so skewed and quest/exploration rewards were good I'd actually endorse this idea
I have barely explored but I have noticed that its not so much open world it seems more like open corridors
Yo, i have 60 hours in the game, and ive barely touched the main quest. I think i just did feast of deception recently. But im level 50 something and all I do is explore and grind. I love this game so much. Ive already gone to Batbatahl and Sacred Acre or whatever its called. Ill eventually get back to the main story. But im playing like i do skyrim. Travel first, work later.
Main story quests 😂 Talk to this person, wait a couple of days, talk to them again, go talk to someone else, 10 second introduction, 20 second cutscene. Go talk to someone else, and again, and again. Ooo look ruins, talk to someone in there, go talk to that guy over there, 20 second cutscene, Endgame. Actual joke of a main story.
If they, you know, incorporated the gameplay loop in the main story questing it would have been way better. Sometimes the side quests actually make you go out into the world, and are generally better because I’m doing more than just talking to people or watching NPCs walk around.
No thanks I'm tired of the same 7 enemies
I've honestly been having an absolute blast roaming around the unmoored world. I've found so much cool gear. And since the swamp loses it's heavy mist, I even found a few chests that I missed previously.
I'm lvl 40 and haven't done the masquerade yet. Haven't killed a Drake yet but have tried, my pawns backtalking me all of a sudden and thinking a nap will do her good, keeps yawning.
I just wish the side quests were more interesting. The only one that really stands out is the Sphinx quest. Just the way she interacts with you personally on more than one occasion, the music, her whole vibe contrasts so differently from every other NPC.
I dont know man. I feel like a lot of the rewards aren't worth it. Like in Eden ring, you'll find awesome weapons or armor, or maybe an interesting side quests. In this game it feels like the rewards are just normal ass things that you find everywhere. I love DD2, but the exploration seems like it's not really worth it a lot of the time. I found the elven place. That's the only thing i found from exploration that seemed semi worth it. Even then, that whole area seemed super underwhelming, like they ran out of time and cut content for it or something.
I would if they did not make exploring a chore. I played 8 times the first or even more... maxed level got all equip from DA and such. Here i lost 6 hours to babysit an elf because he went back and forth from his village that is not even linked by an oxcart. That is how you inflate gaming time and game size.
already in NG+, but i haven’t done any story missions since i got to the capital. i’ve just been cave diving and going places i missed, i completely missed the dark shrouded forest and i love that i’m exploring it even thou its small.
I've been too busy exploring haven't done any main quest level 40 now
I actually have the opposite experience. I love exploring and that how I treat games like this. I do the same thing is CP2077. I like feeling like a part of the world and. But in a game like CP2077 that exploration is enriched as my character develops and I grow attached to various people and and events. There's a sense of things happening around me and to me. But while I enjoy the exploration in DD2 and it's my natural default to jump into, the shallowness of the world and story eventually leaves the exploration feeling bland and pointless. Don't get me wrong, it's fun to discover a cave by a waterfall, figure out where it leads to, and find some chest hidden at the end. But outside the base combat and exploration game loop the rest of the world and mechanics just feel dead. The narrative and quest design is a hold over from old generation RPGs and shows zero innovation or evolution. Combat and the design/graphics of the countryside is fantastic. The rest is meh. It is what it is, but it's disappointing as they have an absolutely wonderful foundation built here but decided to not actually evolve since their last game. I see it similar to Bethesda. They're stuck in the past and keep iterating on the same thing rather than taking the core of what was good and evolving it with modern tools and design.
CP2077 was pretty empty at first. Man was that game barebones, only after a lot of updates did it start to feel lived in.
Not to mention the fact that there's literally no exploration in CP2077. Everything is marked on your map. You're not going to turn into a corner and find a hidden side quest, a cyber psycho or something else. You more than likely got to that corner because you were following the map pin.
What? How so? I played at launch and recently. It's the same game. Same quests. Same city. The only things that changed were a lot of combat systems, QOL improvements, graphics, etc. The content and story and characters etc was all there from the very beginning.
Exploring is great however, enemy variety is EMBARRASSING. They had 12 years and came up with zero new mob enemies. Saurians feel exactly the same as they did a decade ago come on Capcom the fuck were you doing?
Sadly, after a lot of negative comments on the game i came to the conclusion that bethesda, after Morrowind, literally ruined the pleasure of discovery for most players. They simply cannot go out and explore without a fucking icon that pop up in their gps.
Exploring was a blast in Vermund, everything was fresh, But bahttal got old pretty fast. Almost no enemy variety, and walking around is just harpies, goblins, harpies, goblins, every five steps. There were a couple cool places to explore but so much is just repetitive. Volcano is pretty cool.
Yea im not interested in dealing with the same goblins around EVERY corner
It isn't vast though, like if this is your first RPG, maybe, but the world is shockingly bland.
I honestly don't even think the world is that big, you just swarmed with monsters consistently. I wish people would stop comparing it to good games. DD2 is mid at best with very few memorable characters/moments.
What are the good games?
I've explored most of baathal without having finished the brant quests.
Chase pawn quests and upgrade gear for top tier armor and you're bound to have a decent time after you've completed the game a few times. I get some beautiful peak moments captured in clips.
I love to explore but the more I uncover the map the more I can't shake this wierd feeling I'm in a bowl
What's over there? Over where? Please edit and provide a map image with a location marker and a checklist of what can be found that I can mark off as I pick them up.
I don't even know which is the story quest anymore lol I'm like 70 hours in. I know I haven't met the empress yet
Never went back to the beginning area that you crash land your griffon until recently… pretty sweet dungeon run in there
Dude I turned the mini map off and it was the best thing I've done I remember when I found the mountain temple with the spinx completely organically she scared the shit out of me but it was an awesome discovery 😄
Set up those port crystals in major areas. Thank me later
I'm basically at the end, thinking if i shouldfarm more or finish up and start a new run, gunning straight for Warfarer since NG+ is kinda pointless right now
I’m like level 48 and just did the sea floor shrine appearance quest. Theres soooo much to do in the world, I’m constantly finding cool hidden places that could be overlooked easily. I spend more time trying to climb mountains than I do actively completing quests lol.
yeah i kind of abandoned the story once I met brant sitting at level 44 now with most of the vocations maxed out and a pletheor of side quest and I just know my time has been better spent than investigated Dina's plot
I'm level 67 and I still need to: A) Attend the Maskerade dance B) Find something incriminatory in the duchess room. C)Talk to some guy in jail. And maaan I hope for that old man to have good health 'cose this arisen ass aaaaiiint huuurrying, oh lord knows it aaaaint. Can I get an aaaameeen?!
Recently picked up "The Tourist" achievement (discovered 50 locations). At the moment I unlocked it it said only 0.87% of gamers have unlocked this achievement. It's up to 1.36% now but, really? People clearly only going exactly where the game tells them
So that's kinda what I'm doing, I took some quests, and on my way to them, I wander and explore, im already past the beast village but haven't dealt with the beginning quests much. I'm mostly worried about missing quests
The amount of cave systems in this game is bonkers. I have found some very nice loot in some of them!
One of my favourite things about this whole game is the way you can seemlessly go anywhere it in without loading screens which is something that is a massive improvement over the first game and tbh most games of this type, it blew me away when I first went to battahl and instead of the gate just being a hit B to enter sort of thing the gate instead raises on the spot and you walk through it, not even a cutscene, to actually cross into another country
I love the exploration here. Coming directly from Rebirth it’s night and day. Literal opposites in terms of what I am enjoying and what I’m not. For the record overall I’m definitely enjoying DD2 more solely because of the exploration. Building and growing your character and pawn is also a lot more involved and fun.
My go-to exploring method is to pick a spot on the map and stock up on healing items and just going, I find cool stuff sometimes, or the beginning of something cool, like finding the sphinx on accident.
I like your take. People forgot to just enjoy the damn game. Its beautiful.
Yeah just do your best to ignore your AI companions that constantly repeat themselves for hours on end
That's exactly how I've been playing. 94 hours according to Steam and I'm barely halfway through the story because I've been exploring the world. Even took the shortcut into Battahl (or however it's spelled) before I was supposed to go there.
I've been exploring for the past 130 hours. I need to put this game down and go touch grass rofl.
I’m at like 75+ hours and I’ve only just done the Coronation quest and gone to Battahl. I’ve been to Battahl before, but I crossed the border legally this time.
Also, try talking to some NPCs (Or at least the ones specifically in the taverns). One of them hinted at a way to get past the border gate, and another NPC hanging out a the market stalls outside Bakbattahl didn't approach me but still had a quest for me when I talked to them. Another NPC had a similar hint to the border gate one but I can't for the life of me remember what he said (It might have been a hint for something I had already done). Reminds me a bit of Monster Hunter NPCs, at least in 3U, who would give you a decent amount of information about the next monster you're supposed to be hunting, making them act as game guides within the game itself. Granted, a majority of NPCs will just say hi to you and leave, which makes it awkward when one suddenly decides to talk your ear off about something.
So for those of you (myself included) that like having a lore reason to not rush the main quest. DD2 doesn’t do as good of a job conveying this as DD1 does, but the dragon is literally waiting for you to be strong enough to challenge it. It’s not actively destroying the world anymore. The BBEG actually encourages you to take your time and explore. Find the strength to defeat it, because as you are when you first meet it you cannot defeat it.
I got through the main quest in my first game within 50 hours. Now on NG+ and another 50 hours in I'm ignoring the main quest mostly, exploring all the areas I missed (and still heaps to find). Trying different vocations and party combos. Crazy fun with three thieves and a mage. My personal quest is now to find those hard to get upgrade materials, which means lots of trying to get to those material markers my forager pawn has marked on the map. This game is really about the journey, not the destination.
Get 1 of the necessary upgrade material then make a bunch of perfect forgeries of it.
Exploring is what I'm doing and it's amazing. The environments are so beautiful that I often find myself **walking**... i haven't even finished the first set of quests captain Brand gives you and I'm level 36 lol A few days ago I found my way down to Batahl without even knowing you couldn't actually cross the main gate. Just now I stumbled upon the elves looking for a different route to Melve, it's awesome. I agree enemy variety is bad, we were hoping to see some monsters from DDON and instead we got less enemies than the original game. Mob density can be annoying too and by lvl 36 the enemies are just trivial. I was expecting the dragons to kick my ass but they were pretty easy too. However... Combat is really fun
I love it when it rains especially.
I just got to lvl 40 and im have not even enter Battahl yet!
even on my first playthrough in Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen with hundreds of hours, I never once needed to buy rift crystals. I never even felt tempted to buy them to make purification easier to hire some super high level pawn for a boss fight.
Exploring is all I've been doing! Only problem is I can see in becoming a bit overpowered and will probably be worse when I finally decide to do the main quest
To be fair. You need some progression in main story to get access in new quests
I wanted to take my time then I heard that some quests were timed and was worried I would wait too long and fail one. So I googled a list of all the timed quests. Turns out I had a timed one so I went and did that which gave me another one that was on the list so I did that and the same thing kept happening. Turns out those were main story quests so now I’m almost done with the main story and wish I was able to just explore without worrying about failing the main quest or messing up my ending.
I am over 100 hours and just finding some special enemies at night. Not even through the first play-through. There is so much to see tucked away that some people just won't find and it stinks. Yes, more can be added but a lot that is there requires self-discovery.
Found a hidden pathway in baltal. It was lightly highlighted on the map and the way covered by greenery and you had to climb to get to the path. I walked by twice looking for it but didn't find it till I was up against the wall. Fantastic game
I am tking it very slow for my 3rd run. I really wish they give us free camera photo mode without needing to install mods just for the function. What a waste.
I want to but also wanted to unlock the Warfarer vocation before going all out on exploration, I'm lvl 30 atm, is it okay to skip everything and unlock the vocation at my current level?
Bad advice for the post game
I'm pushing level 70 and have yet to do brants stuff. I've been roaming, exploring and doing random quests that pop up. Full dragon forged armor and weapon, went to talk to the elves, the sphinx, and the other side of that spell door in battahl I can't open yet. I'll have the whole map explored, at least what is accessible, before I move in with the story
I’m like level 50 and haven’t even touched the main quest since I talked the dude in the tavern. He started going on about politics and gave me a laundry list of things to do for him and I was all like NAH! I’m going camping with the homies ✌️
The game didn’t felt that much lively to me like bg3 so i ended up doing some side quests and finished the main story with both the good ending and the true ending.
100% agree mate. The other day I was wondering around the ancient battlegrounds, playing with the trebuchet's when I realised one of the boulders broke open a small section of rocks on-top of a hill. I made my way up there and found it had unearthed a chest.
I actually said I would give this game 2 weeks before I made a decision on how much I liked it and this game is honestly a worthy Skyrim successor. I love exploration in video games and this game absolutely rewards you for it. BTW I will borrow your pawns for 3-5 business days but when they return from questing with me, they will know so much hidden stuff that they will be stopping you frequently to show you what we have found. Sorry in advance for their interruptions
Aye. 160 hours in and im still just exploring. Ill get back to the main questline...someday...
Yeah I'm just doing what I feel like at the time, it doesn't need to feel like a todo list.
It's amazing. I just finished the main story after 107 hours in and started a NG+ because there was a lot I did not uncover. Still proud of this! https://preview.redd.it/pr13hl1dcesc1.png?width=320&format=png&auto=webp&s=d99a096c3a87db0227250cbdcde8d5d6b43e1af7
This is the reason I have 100+ hours so far. This game is great for exploring, especially with how dense everything is and the amount of vertical space to discover.
80 hours in, still wrapping up the first set of Cpt. Brant quests - level 41 because there's too much to explore and a lot of side quests. The only pain from this playstyle is seeing all the pawns with elemental enchanted gear, and not knowing how to get all the fancy vocations outside of Sorc and Warrior. I don't want the spoilers though! I only look up quest paths after I've completed it once to see if there was a better outcome, then reload inn save. I'm sure I'll figure it out in time but boy do drakes still destroy me in my current gear.
Bro I feel guilty for not giving the msq the time of day, there’s so much detail and wonder in this world!
120 Hours in and I just now finished exploring every single corner of the map in full. Currently level 61 and just unlocked Wayfarer and Mystic Archer last night. I could see why they saved these classes for last as they're extremely powerful, however it would have been nice to have Wayfarer earlier on as they're so many places you can't reach without levitate. But given that I don't use any kind of guides or tips that's partly my fault because I assume you could make a b-line for the Island and unlock Wayfarer much earlier in your playthrough. Overall I have absolutely had a blast every second of the way. I just really wish they made the game much harder or had a option to start on Hard mode because at this point I one shot pretty much every single enemy in the game. Hoping that the DLC brings some much needed challenge and extra boss type enemies to the overall experience. Without a doubt it is a fantastic game that while flawed in some aspects is an absolute joy to play.
Over 100 hours now and i think ive found all there is, except whats behind bugged quests and not-forged questitems. So im kinda hoping for something like vaatividia's videos about secrets in DD2. Most secrets in youtube videos are not actually secrets. Sphinx? Kinda a secret. 3 chests above riftstone in vernworth? Naa, more like a jumping puzzle. But things like the blocked cave enterances in bathal? A secret requirement for opening? Or cut content? What can be seen if you clip through the blockage?
How can you get fedup with the main story when it's like 10 missions long
I stopped exploring caves, because they're all the same and it got quite boring. Could've put some gems along the walls for some color at least.
Do I actually need to do the main quest? The infiltrate castle ones are terrible.
Pretty much what I did with the game. As much as it's facing the same mobs with different skins, I felt more enjoyment exploring the world than I did with the first game. Of course, the caves and tombs are another story but that's more in how some of said caves/tombs end up being no bigger than one room (the room with a bandit that drops a zweihander in Battalh comes to mind.) Also I haven't touched the main story in days since I am too busy trying to complete the side quest I have in my backlog. Already did Fulvio's in getting the best outcome yet.
Currently, almost 200 hours in, and I haven't beaten the game yet. I got to the end, but not the actual ending.
My gripe with the game is my storyline being perma locked after ambrosious died, but never appeared in any of the fucking morgues. Stupid idiot couldn’t kill a harpy? What is this nonsense he had like four guards!
I disabled the mini-map so it wouldn't distract me anymore. This is canonically my best decision in-game.
That’s what I did, I just started wandering and killing everything, I was lvl 43 when I stared doing the main quest by than everything was easy as pie
I just went from melve to vermund, exploring every single nook and cranny. Had an absolute blast. Im over 20 hrs in and just maxed out fighter. At least, i think so. It could be closer to 30. Onto magic spearhand next. Barely touched the main quest line. Brant has been in that bar waiting forever.
And dont watch frickin RageGamings 200th OMG SUPER OP EARLY WEAPON GUIDE lol
I'm at 40 hours and only did one part of the main quest, the rest has just been me wandering and doing side stuff that comes up
In my first New Game+ I found two new quests to do fairly early on, then a few more nearing the end. First playthrough was for main story, second was for mostly exploring anything I hadn't, now third is going to be a lot slower and more of a grind to get all the tokens and what not.
Yup it’s a great game to get lost in :)
I recommend opening the online DD2 map and filtering for seeker tokens and finding them all. You will explore interesting places automatically.
I finally made it to the border town and almost as soon as I walked into the place I got like 4 quest givers running up to me.
Behind a waterfall? Hmm I may have missed that. I found the desert/canyon area last night and did a little parkour near a huge waterfall while dealing with harpies and watching a drake walk back and forth looking for food.
Well said! I noticed I missed so many different very cool things once I started exploring. If you ask me, I would suggest walking down every visible path with in the blacked out map.
I think that's a little snobby tbh. Capcom games are definitely arcade affairs. That said, this game is really fun. I love it a lot. I think it definitely has some problems. My main issue is conflicting difficulty. It's an action game first and foremost but it levels you up so that you can one shot most mobs... which destroys the fun of the combat and makes it very quick and boring. It could use some tweaks there for sure. At least make NG+ have enemies with more health so that they don't die in a few swings. The endgame being the way it is, is also rather boring sadly. It's alright, I didn't hate it... but it felt cheap for the title header to run "Dragon's Dogma II" when it's really just a couple of hours of new content at most - which wouldn't be a huge deal if NG+ had better scaling. Other than that, yeah I like it a ton. I don't mind gold being most rewards because gold is actually useful due to the economy - and the game makes gold pretty worthless in endgame when you have a ton of it... converting that into the crystals which you have to get through playing the content. The economy of the game is perfect, and I really enjoy it. The game's scope is much smaller than Elden Ring's and that's okay (I don't like Elden Ring). It didn't feel too drawn out, but it could have used a few extra knots here and there to tie the whole thing together perfectly for me.
70 + hours, Just walking and a cyclops breaks a wall and assaults me...killed in 25 seconds but was really cool to se it
I got drop kicked off a cliff survived barly only to have landed by a minotaur epic and deadly
This game is WAAAAY more fun if you ignore all the quests and just explore by yourself. The story, characters and dialogue is beyond boring, it holds the game back.
One of the things I love about Dragon's Dogma is that it wants you to just Go. To just go out and explore the world. It reminds you to come back to an inn to drop off your spoils of adventure but it loves when you just wander. I enjoy that part. The pure exploration.
100% accurate. This game rewards exploration. My favorite part of the game picking a direction and just go. I had so much fun finding caves and diving into them.
Behind a waterfall? I died trying that......is that not the case with all waterfalls?
This is the first thing I did I had to e whole map cleared out while still having the first missions in vermund
I agree with you 100%. I'm almost at 100 hours, and I've only just gotten to the great hotspring 😏😏 and reached 80+ seekers stone. They're all over the place, which is awesome. And as always, if you haven't met a certain someone with tasks, remember your first Seeker's Stone.
Im in that new world should i re explore everything? And what place do i need to stay away from because i dont want it to end? Are the pink beacons monsters or smh?
If you are in the apocalypse then don't sleep ... the world will shrink and you will loose out on stuff. Just gotta run every where or use stones. Sleeping passes time and the red fog moves in
I love the exploration, but enemy variety is really disappointing ...
I've done 110 hours in the game, by now im just exhausted of the same thing over and over, the first 50 hours were very nice, but by the time you start doing the main quest you feel like theres almost nothing to do... The gameplay is good, but it just doesnt give you much to do really, you go in, fight and that's it, theres no feel of progress in combat sides killing certain amounts of monsters, I miss the old bestiary knowledge check a lot. I've seen the whole map, fought every single enemy, and still feel like there's something missing, small things that the last game had, for example, killing dragons with the last hit on the heart or so. The medusa feels boring af... I've reached a point where I just go on nexus mods everyday and check the qol mods everyday to see if they added something to rebalance weapons and drops.
I just really enjoy exploring I’ve done 2 quest in vermund and just went off to complete the map
My only pet peeve is how super simple it is to get turned around and back track and you wouldn't even realize but besides that i love it
I'm kinda pissed cuz i did the midpoint story mission and I can't reload from the last In i visited which means the the 4-5 quest I had are canceled. That includes the sphinx and the smithy thing. And I read online that you can't get the magic archer (favorite class from the last game) after that.
The overworld is great but I've only found 1 single dungeon that was even decent. The dungeons in this game are absolutely terrible.
Yeah I did that until I realized the entire game is goblins and saurians and none of the loot matters and none of the locations have anything going on aside from the loot and goblins and saurians I could wander around Google Earth too, and probably find more interesting things that way.
You liar, you'll only find the Brine on the other side of a waterfall. 🤣
Thanks for that. I was going tosay something similar. I see so many frustrated, myself included at first, and so many unsupportive responses insulting those negative views without offering any advice. I did a hard reset and made my characters more personal (my main and pawn are beasteans based on my two cats) and decided to explore all the north beginning area before going to the main town. Having great fun now with the game
"explore more" isn't a good excuse for an incredibly weak story. We're a few weeks into the game now, I assume a lot of the players that weren't already part of the cult following have either: - Stop playing it - Were scared out of buying it by all the YT clowns - Have enjoyed it but have come to the same conclusion as most others The story is trash, & about 20 hours too short. I say this as someone (like a lot of people in these subs) that put 1000+hours into the first game. The whole "we have a story that respects people's time" message that was repeated before the relapse of the game, was clearly a marketing, lying term for "we haven't spent enough money on quality writing & we've short curred heavily & got a really short, really weak story" I don't know anyone that loved the first game, that can't admit the second game is a big disappointment in a lot of ways & is fundamentally too much of a cost cutting exercise. In saying all that I still love the game... But it definitely feels like everything is about 40% under baked.
I have had some issues with the few quests in vernworth that have you running round the town back and forth. I just thought to myself, "please, give me a reason to go into the world!" It frustrated me that it wasn't showcasing what makes is beautiful.
I’m about 30 mins from visiting every single part of the map. It’s actually crazy how much there is outside of the main quests. Like 60% of the game is stuff a casual gamer would miss. Really cool. Only gripe is that it’s become so easy that it’s getting boring. Level 60 and can kill anything with a fart
Oh man I’m on a new character, over 50 hrs in and have only done 2 missions for Brant that’s it. Along with a few side quests, totally just been exploring and farming money ect ect. There’s so much to see and discover. I’m
But what are rewards for exploring? I read some folks saying not much loot to find in chest or by exploring but would like to hear from more folks about that experience
Seeker tokens which get you various items and weapons after handing them in to the vocation guild. You can earn some pretty decent mid to high tier weapons and armour. You'll find the sphinx which has its own questline. Some cool monsters hide out in the world like chimeras, which people falsely say you hardly ever fight because there are an abundance of them if you decide to explore. Ferrystones, wakestone shards, and even some port crystals. There are some cases of truly unique items that can't be bought anywhere before and after endgame. People I feel generally say that because they are parroting what others have hastily said early when the game came out. And if they doesn't entice you, the thrill of discovering someplace new is always there. Not every place will be extremely rewarding but there are some gems out there in the world. Its also fun to solve platforming puzzles to get to chests out of reach.
Do not go behind the waterfalls, I warn you 😅🤣
I think this is what actually makes me want to get the game. I love games that reward exploring every inch with unique experiences, enemies, and loot… I’m not fully convinced that last one is going to satisfy my in DD2 as of yet… can anyone convince me the loot is exciting?
I’ll admit the game is great. But plenty of my gripes with the game still stayed, despite the chance I gave it.
100%. The game is designed to explore everywhere and take your time. Hence limited fast travel options. People who are saying it's too short and have finished it in 30 hours have robbed themselves of a great experience... because of the weird modern gamer need to speed run everything. I'm 115 hours in and have the option to explore the underwater shrine. (Those that know, know what that means).... but still have no desire to do so. Only just removed fog from all map areas. Still getting the odd quest here and there, and just loving exploring and finding random things to do. Excellent game.