What are you playing? [SPOILER TAGS PLEASE]

[Sabby]

Uhg, I can see why some people would like this character creator, but I'm already hating it. Basically, if you spent time trying to make yourself look attractive/fashionable in Saints Row, you are going to HATE this. But if you just wore whatever the hell you wanted because 'it looked funny' your probably going to have a fucking blast here.

If you want, you can make a 10 year old girl with a gigantic ass, throbbing muscular arms and a giant old crones head.

[Hemingway]

Huh. I apparently make a pretty good Tribes player. Who'd-a thunk it?

[Inkidu]

XCOM Enemy Unknown, new gameplay shows off powerful arsenal

Chryssalids!

[Sabby]

...wow. Really Dragons Dogma? You expect me to play a rogue class with no dodge option? My only way of avoiding stun spamming is to stun spam? I'm regretting this decision already.

[Hemingway]

...wow. Really Dragons Dogma? You expect me to play a rogue class with no dodge option? My only way of avoiding stun spamming is to stun spam? I'm regretting this decision already.

I read you can change class at any time...?

[Sabby]

I can't see that being a good decision, unless you can transfer your experience as well. These skills are pretty costly, and so far, the game is pretty difficult.

[Inkidu]

How exactly extensive is Dragon's Dogma's character creator? 

[Sabby]

I'd like to know who said it was to begin with xD it's about as deep and extensive as the character creator for a wrestling game. No, wait, a lot of those are actually a lot better then this. You have a list of 10-30 options for each part, arms, nose, eyes, ears, what have you, and you just put them together like a doll and decide the colours and wrinkles and such. Want giant ripped python arms an obese body starved legs and an old face? You can do that, but not much else.

[Inkidu]

I'd like to know who said it was to begin with xD it's about as deep and extensive as the character creator for a wrestling game. No, wait, a lot of those are actually a lot better then this. You have a list of 10-30 options for each part, arms, nose, eyes, ears, what have you, and you just put them together like a doll and decide the colours and wrinkles and such. Want giant ripped python arms an obese body starved legs and an old face? You can do that, but not much else.

Well, I don't think I've ever seen a "wrestling game" caliber character in an RPG before, especially not a sandbox RPG. Sure, Skyrim gave you a lot of facial options, but that's about it.

How's the rest of the game?

[Sabby]

It's a Western/Eastern RPG :P It's fucking infuriating for the first hour, and then you start to get it. I've been screaming at it for a while, but I'm getting the idea now, and the whole Pawns thing (which is the most important part of the game so far) just seems unnecessary and strange. It was clearly intended to be a big online community thing, giving an impression of multiple universes with Pawns drifting between them, but if you're a single player person, like me, it's completely useless complication.

The combat is all about special moves, instead of trading blows, a lot like Lost Planet in the sense you only ever get knocked down when you fuck up, and the actual feedback from attacks is very limited. People wince when they get hit. That's about it. So if you're a class without blocking skills, you need to really focus on stun spamming and getting in special moves to knock people down. It's all held back by the fact you can't really give your Pawns commands. They do their own thing, so if your fighting a pack of Wolves and need fire on your weapons, and press the help button, your Mage may cast Heal or Ice Boon instead of Fire Boon. For no reason. My Mage refuses to move away from combat, so I gave her an Area of Effect freezing spell to help protect herself, and she just never uses it, she goes ahead hitting bandits with her staff like a moron.

And now I've run out of quests to do in the area and can only move forward, and if I do, I come across a group of bandits that seem like fucking Highlanders. We can kill a few, but it always ends in my two Pawns dead and me backpedaling firing arrows from two or three who simply won't get damaged, won't be knocked down or even staggered from my attacks, and if they hit me even once I get stun spammed and die. Now, you need quests in order to better, since the XP only buys you skills and stats raise by themselves, so I would just leave and come back stronger... but I can't. I have done everything. Everything else I could possibly do besides grinding Goblins is beyond this unkillable group of immortal bandits.

So I accidentally threw my Pawn into a cloud of carnivorous water (don't ask) and I go to find something better, and realize I can buy better Pawns with XP and train my personal Pawn. So this must be what I did wrong! I think. I left my Pawns weak and that's why I can't win! So I spend a fortune on a heavy claymore using Pawn and take my other one to........ the Knowledge Chair. Whatever, I'll sit in it, even if it looks curiously like a babies high seat. So, how does this thing work, do I just tweak her stats window or something? ...the fuck is this? She'll ask me three questions and my answers change her behaviour. Three random questions. And they can repeat. There is no way to choose what to change. Some of it is useful, like "If we faced a group, should I focus on the weakest or the strongest?" And others are "HOW SHOULD I SOUND HURT?! LIKE A BAUS OR BE ALL WEAK AND SHIT?"

This whole Pawn thing is just badly executed, and it's easily one of the main game features.

But even though I've spent the last few paragraphs tearing into it, it's actually pretty good so far. Barring my current situation with the bandits, I see a lot to like and I want to get further. I'm just not going to bother for now.

[Oniya]

So I accidentally threw my Pawn into a cloud of carnivorous water (don't ask) and I go to find something better, and realize I can buy better Pawns with XP and train my personal Pawn.

That needs at least a GameFAQs link.  :P

[Hemingway]

Well, I'm having fun with Tribes Ascend. It really gives new ( or old ) meaning to "fast-paced shooter".

[Inkidu]

Actually the Dragon's Dogma pawn system sounds fun (it can't possibly be worse then the FF12 gambit system) in a "I'm an evil overlord and most of you will be cannon fodder" kind of way.

[Sabby]

Uhg... finally got past the bandits (had to retreat to heal once) but this AI is really atrocious. It's hindering almost every fight, and it makes any kind of tactical approach impossible. Like, I wanna throw a vial of oil on the bandit. I do so. Now I need Fire! I press Help (seriously, that's the only command button, besides Come and Go, which don't do a whole lot of anything) and Saffron (My Mage) gives me Lightning. Uhm... thank you?

Then we fight some wolves. Saffron keeps yelling out "They're weak to fire! They hate fire! Fire works! They're weak to fire! Fire works! Here, I grant you Lightning!"

...

Are you retarded Saffron? -.- You've got 10 wolves hanging off of you, and you have a perfectly good Ice spell to save yourself. Fucking use it. Please?

So, I figure I'll just antagonize the bandits and lure them into an ambush. Me up on the rocks with my bow, Saffron enchanting and giving support, and also firing up high along with me, while my heavy girl handles the bandits on the road. Solid strategy, right? Well, not even this much is possible x.x You can only order both of them at once, so even if you were going to settle for your Mage and your Fighter being in the thick of it while you shoot from the rocks, pressing Go will not make them move. They never go far from you, just take a few steps in the general direction you pointed and will just keep on following you anyway. So you have absolutely zero options for an ambush, just a big clusterfuck, and your Mage won't even try and back out of the fray to get some space. The most choice making I've seen so far is my Pawns picking up each others battered bodies, carrying them 5 feet away and dropping them, WHILE BEING ATTACKED.

It's a good thing the actual Skills are all really neat... if it weren't for these Pawns I'd have nothing but good things to say for this game.

[Sabby]

Oh ho, what's this? A dive roll? Double jump? Ability to not fall flat on my face if I try to run with no stamina? The swishy dagger class just redeemed itself.

[Inkidu]

I still think it sounds better than the FF12 gambit system.

[Sabby]

I wouldn't know xD FF is sorta not my thing kinda.

By the way, my questionable character creation choice just makes everything in this game seem funny and wrong xD I just arrived in a new town, and in the cutscene a big black guy is watching me from an alley, scratching his chin with a creepy, considering smirk. No doubt it's just a swindler or something hoping to put one over on the mighty Arisen, but it just looks like a pedophile thinking "Jackpot!"

[Inkidu]

I wouldn't know xD FF is sorta not my thing kinda.

By the way, my questionable character creation choice just makes everything in this game seem funny and wrong xD I just arrived in a new town, and in the cutscene a big black guy is watching me from an alley, scratching his chin with a creepy, considering smirk. No doubt it's just a swindler or something hoping to put one over on the mighty Arisen, but it just looks like a pedophile thinking "Jackpot!"

It's too bad all the youtube videos suck because I was going to post Herbert the Pervert doing "Oh-ho, jackpot!" Because it was exactly how I read that.

[Sabby]

That was exactly what I pictured to xD just got to the point where I can change my job, and my choices so far, if I stick to yellow (Fighting = Red, Magic = Blue, Swishy flashy roguey stuff = Yellow) is getting longbows, being able to use a sword, or... getting a magical bow AND a magic staff. Uhm... this is supposed to be a choice?

Okay, that's not exactly fair, they have different skills I wouldn't know of yet. There's one for the Red/Yellow Hybrid called Blink Strike, which sounds exactly like the kind of skill you'd see a fast fighter use (super fast dodge attack). But... come on! Magical arrows! I have a laser gun! All the longbow seems to do is the exact same thing the bow does. But better.

[Sabby]

Okay... Magick Archers are fucking awesome. It's basically like saying to your whole party "Ya know, just stop. I got this now" Daggers, magic and laser bow. Ya cover pretty much everything. Plus you have a laser bow! It shoots fucking LASERS!

[Oniya]

Like this guy?

[Inkidu]

Okay... Magick Archers are fucking awesome. It's basically like saying to your whole party "Ya know, just stop. I got this now" Daggers, magic and laser bow. Ya cover pretty much everything. Plus you have a laser bow! It shoots fucking LASERS!

[Sabby]

Like this guy?

I have a Holy enchantment, so yes, it does glow with a bright yellow light.

[Bayushi]

There was a really awesome artifact bow that did just that, Sabby, in AD&D 2/2.5E.

I can't quite remember what it's called, I'd have to pull out my Encyclopedia Magicka to look it up.

[Sabby]

Damn, this does have some good questing. I like how the day and night cycle actually matters. At night, there's more monsters, and it's actually DARK. As in, realistic, moonless, starless, wall of tar black. If you don't have a lamp, you're blind.

So we get a quest to go assist some soldiers in reclaiming a fort that was taken by Goblins. I have no idea how to get there, so I hire a Pawn who knows the area better.

My near fatal slog through the dark

Going to the quest, my new Pawn mentioned a shortcut through the Quarry as we passed it. So we go in the mines, nothing dangerous so far... rats, bats, a few small goblins, easy. Then I hear a growling. "Careful Arisen... we'd best not spook the Giant" Up ahead is a massive ape thing trudging around. I wanna get past, so I attack.

This thing is fucking unkillable. Fighter is going toe to toe with it, Mage is healing and buffing, while I'm focusing my LASERS on it's knee to try and cripple it. Finally, it picks up my fighter and starts crushing her, I jump on it's back and try to shank its arm, but it falls on it's back and almost kills me

So we leg it, end up in some tunnel too small for it, and its full of zombies. So we wade through, have to run from the giant again, finally get outside, barely alive, and it's pitch black middle of the night. We're in a forest, and even with lamps we can barely see. Just this cone of dim light, there could be a cliff in front of us and we wouldn't know until we were about to fall off.
"The Fortress is nearby Arisen. We can rest when we arrive" Okay, I think... just follow the road... almost there... "GOBLINS!" We kill a few Goblins, and a fucking horn is sounded. Just fucking great.

So we're up on this rock, completely blind, fending off groups of Goblins trying to climb up, and finally I decide to leg it, streak out and just sprint off into the dark blind. And I'm getting chased on all sides.

Made it there, barely. I am NEVER taking a shortcut again >.<